There is a peculiar friction to the digital textures of Skylarka and her new album, "Somnorine". It’s supposed to be chiptune-influenced synthwave, but listening to it feels less like browsing the internet and more like chewing on aluminum foil while watching Blade Runner on a CRT monitor that’s slowly degaussing. It’s a sensory contradiction bright, crystalline pop hooks wrestling with the deep, existential dread...

There is a particular shade of electric blue that appears on the inside of your eyelids when you rub your eyes too hard, a colour that feels both artificial and deeply biological, and that is precisely where Vacant Shores and their new EP, "Vacant Shores", seem to reside. Jon Elliott, AJ ‘Sid’ Sidford, and Suzy Alderton have managed to capture something peculiarly British here;...