The playlist – pop: Brandon Flowers, Ronika, Shamir

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/mar/27/the-playlist-pop-brandon-flowers-ronika-shamir

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Brandon Flowers – Can’t Deny My Love ­

With the Killers on hiatus following their 2013 Direct Hits compilation, frontman Brandon Flowers has returned to his solo career with the follow­-up to his 2010 solo debut, Flamingo. Produced by Ariel Rechtshaid (Sky Ferreira, Haim, just about everyone), The Desired Effect, due in May, is being ushered in by lead single Can’t Deny My Love. Bristling with sonic ideas and anchored by a massive chorus, it’s a confident return for Flowers compared to that slightly apologetic 2010 debut. Opening with a lone humming synth that feels like a knowing nod to the Killers, the song soon splinters into a synth screech that’s reminiscent of the Pet Shop Boys’ Always on My Mind then explodes into a fervent chorus.

Ronika – Step to My Beat ­

Nottingham’s diminutive pop dynamo Ronika released one of the best albums of last year, the crate­-digging Selectadisc. A head­spinning mix of 80s Kylie, with a smidgen of Madonna, a light dusting of funk and lots of amazing choruses, it showcased an exciting new pop songwriter. Perhaps that’s why she was recently invited to Stockholm to take part in a songwriting camp at the Abba museum, where she not only met Björn and Benni, but was also in the same room as a keyboard once used by Ace of Base and the ludicrous Swedish rap experimentalist Dr Alban. This passion for pop songwriting and early-90s production is showcased on new song Step to My Beat. Over typically glittery synths and a funk-­tinged bassline, it’s the sort of low-slung album track that could have nestled in among the hits on Madonna’s True Blue album.

Sofi de la Torre – That Isn’t You ­

In the summer of 2014, Spain’s Sofi de la Torre released the exquisitely restrained Vermillion, a song about longing that married a pulsating, never-­quite-­going­-off beat to a heart­string-manipulating melody. Perhaps it was the hot weather clouding our collective minds, but the song passed most of us by. Now, De la Torre’s about to release her debut EP, That Isn’t You, a three­-track collection that, er, doesn’t actually feature Vermillion. The EP’s lilting title track now has a video featuring a despondent De le Torre doing what we all do when we’ve just gone through a break-up: red wine for breakfast, lonely walks under a grey sky and a visit to see a massive boat. While the video is kind of dull, the song is another quietly arresting slither of emotional pop, De la Torre’s hushed vocal sighing its way through a chorus of: “All I wanted was a man to be true, but that isn’t you.” Subtler and more refined than a lot of pop music at the moment, it even ends with a lilting whistling solo – and there simply aren’t enough of those.

Shamir – Call It Off ­

You sense that it’s not Shamir’s aim to confuse or beguile, it just seems to happen. The first comment under thevideo for the 19-year-old Vegas-resident’s new single, Call It Off, says: “What is his/her gender? Just wondering.” With a brilliantly androgynous vocal that recalls a young Michael Jackson mixed with Elly from La Roux, Shamir’s music is a lithe hybrid of funk, dance and straight-up pop imbued with a certain softness. Call It Off is the latest offering from his forthcoming debut album, Ratchet, and follows On the Regular, replacing that song’s tongue-in-cheek self­-aggrandising with a Tumblr­ready tale of a relationship break-­up. The song’s slightly gonzo energy is harnessed perfectly in the video, which features a bored­-looking Shamir working in a clothes shop before he morphs into a puppet that starts recruiting various puppet friends.

Brayton Bowman – Skin Deep ­

In a recent interview with Bullett, Philadelphia’s self­-styled “soul-­pop future-funk” connoisseur Brayton Bowman talks about his love for UK pop, recalling how he tried to convince people he was the reincarnation of Baby Spice as a child, before going on to perform Amy Winehouse songs at college. So it’s no great surprise that he’s hooked up with UK pop producer MNEK, who, along with creating his own forward-­thinking, R&B-­infused pop ditties, has produced and written for the cutting edge of UK pop (and the Saturdays). The squelchy, undulating throb of Skin Deep, which is reminiscent of the more experimental songs from Brandy’s Full Moon album, is inspired by the surface-level connections people make on dating apps. “Skin Deep is about that moment you realise the only reason you’re dating someone is because of how you both look in your selfies, and the two of you have absolutely nothing in common,” he explained in the interview. There’s no bitterness or vitriol on show here, musically at least, with Bowman’s laidback vocals gliding serenely over a juddering, stop-­start beat that eventually disintegrates.