Freshly Squeezed, Vol. 142: Marlene Oak, Becca Mancari, Jessie Ware & more

Welcome to Freshly Squeezed, a weekly new music playlist: spanning country, pop, EDM and urban, mainstream and other.

Two of the most unlikeliest voices come together for a delightful, indie fever dream. Marlene Oak spills her course, ribbed vocal, like tossing earth into the sky, and Windy Isle haunts around like a ghost in the attic. “Lovesick” pulses with a distinct musical dichotomy; it’s tortured and plaintive but pounding and electric. “She was feeling kind of lovesick / Kept her secret inside,” Oak scrawls in the opening line. Therein lies the song’s deeply unsettling tone, woven into the fabric, and the artists’ performances seem to dissolve as sand on the shore. Beautiful.

Becca Mancari lives a true chameleon’s life, at least musically. Stakes always run high, but she throws caution to the wind and marched into the eye of adventure. With her new album, The Greatest Part, she trips around into synth folk-pop cloud like a dancer across a high-wire. “I’m Sorry” is another sense-bewitching entry; sometimes you’re mesmerize by the tiny backbeat, other times the guitar hooks into your ears. Either way, you stay tightly clutched in her voice. Full-stop.

Tyrone Noonan‘s “Black Dog” smacks you in the face. It’s bluesy undercurrent drives you forward, a front porch rocker with a irresistible musicality that lingers in the air. “Oh, black dog, running through your head,” he sings. Guitar and fiddle cry in unison, and a barreling, smokey drum kit pushes it all steaming and raging down the tracks. It’s the kind of song you won’t soon forget.

The last playlist of the year’s first half includes Jessie Ware, Tenille Townes, John Conlin, Cassadee Pope, Corb Lund with Jaida Dreyer, Emily Scott Robinson, Melanie Martinez, and many more!

In all, we’ve got 30 new tracks to soothe your mind during these terrible pandemic times. Insert heart emoji.

Each playlist will be refreshed every Friday morning/afternoon. We reserve the right to update anytime during the week, so make sure you bookmark this page.

Take a spin:

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