New Music Rundown: DVR/Maria Isabel/Slowthai

DVR
u can call me dillion
[DVR]

The newest EP by the Scottish-born indie artist dvr is equal parts temperamental and touching, which makes more sense when you realize he’s only 17 years old. The emotions on tracks like “friends” and “16” are as unfinished as the mixing but the demo quality only adds to abrasive emotions in a voice you don’t hear too often. After his single “thru the city” blew up earlier last year he went from an unknown to talking and working with Kenny Beats. Still unsigned, this EP signals a small step towards stardom.

Maria Isabel
Stuck in the Sky
[Maria Isabel]

In her debut album, Maria Isabel sings the most beautiful Spanglish you’ve ever heard over a distinctly-NYC genre mixing of Spanish-soul and R&B bass lines. If that didn’t sell you already, Isabel lays down track after track of heart-wrenching lyrics about the struggles of long-distance relationships, verses that hit just a little harder after a Valentine’s Day passed.

slowthai
TYRON
[Method]

TYRON is an emphatic fever dream soaked in tears of both hate and happiness. Disc 1 is a pneumatic air hammer of grime beats and big name features from the likes of Skepta and A$AP Rocky where Tyron Frampton, slowthai’s name and source of the album title, delivers the scathing and witty lyrics he’s famous for at a breakneck pace. Disc 2 slows the pneumatic hammer so you can feel every millimeter of tunnel being carved out your head. Nevertheless, the hole is just as clean as the first. With slowed down beats and features from the likes of indie pop starlets Deb Never and Dominic Fike, Tyron is able to deliver introspective but still genuinely funny lines like “Try breathing, you might find freedom. Instead of squeezing up your buttocks tryna hold ya shit in” He tackles body dysmorphia, alcohol abuse, reactions to the coronavirus, downsides of fame, etc. in an album a little over 35 minutes. I won’t argue he solves them, but to address all these deadly serious topics in a clever way to explain his vulnerabilities is doing much more than many others. In total, Slowthai delivers a fitting sophomore album that rivals his first and my favorite LP of 2019, Nothing Great About Britain.