Freshly Squeezed, Vol. 76: Torrey Mercer, Young & Sick, Iona Fyfe, Rozes & more

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

Bending lo-fi alternative pop and indie-rock to her every whim, Torrey Mercer balls up her fists with “Disclaimer,” a rallying cry for all sexual assault survivors. “I’m not here for you / Just let me do what I’m trying to do / I don’t go ’round looking you up and down,” she sings, examining her frustrations over the male gaze and subsequent carnivorous attacks. The song swings its pendulum in incisive movements, and in its calculated building, slowly rising into a ferocious, momentous burst, permitting Mercer to employ a towering vocal, it is unapologetically wrought of the pain and misery finally being exposed through such crucial movements as #MeToo and #TimesUp.

Electro-pop juggernaut ROZES issues her evocative, impressively organic “Halfway There,” which quickly evolves into a gospel-pummeling hymnal. “We know better than to let it go,” she sings. It not only serves as a remembrance of those women of yesteryear who have forged ahead in the face of the patriarchal firestorm but a skin-scrawled love letter to all those young women coming up in the business today. The singer, who has stormed the pop conversation on numerous occasions in recent years, once again proves her mettle as a true trailblazer.

Funky pop duo The Darcys, whose “Chasing the Fall” was named one of the Best Songs of 2018, kick off the new year with a soapy reworking of Billie Eilish’s “Ocean Eyes.” In stunning rays of acoustic guitar and shadowy, decorative synths, the song reaches a new heightened reality of emotion, awash in the pair’s caramel tenor and scruff. It’ll make you cry and feel all sorts of things. Guaranteed. Framed between R&B slink and sensitive singer-songwriter, newcomer Mark Diamond drops his feathery, yet sunny, first single called “Steady,” aiming his arrow swiftly for superstardom in just three tender minutes.

Meanwhile, electronic DJ Prismo snaps his fingers hard with the frenetic and volatile “Blame,” as it erupts into colorful shades of glitter, raining down on bodies at a midnight rave. Then, country upstart Ryan Hurd meanders off into the wistful “Michigan for Winter,” and his vocal is as bittersweet as they come, regaling a tale of heartbreak and distance. And bluegrass player Iona Fyfe hits a home run with “Swing and Turn,” off her brand new EP, Dark Turn of Mind, out now.

The playlist also includes: Dani Bell & the Tarantist, The Collectables, James Hersey, David Gray, Alessandro Ciminata, Leland Sundries, Fredfades, Young & Sick, Greensky Bluegrass and many others.

In all, we’ve got 30 new songs to get busy with for the new year.

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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