Right Across The Hall

FKJ featuring Eryn Allen Kane “I Want U”

Years ago my friend Sean T. Collins wrote a daily blog about the movie Road House because he realized he could find something interesting to say about Road House every day. (He did, and it’s now it’s a terrific book.) I feel like “I Want U” is so full of wonderful little details that I could potentially do the same for at least a month. Like, I’m not going to! But that’s mostly because I don’t have the music theory and production background to get it right. Most of what I love about the song comes down to appreciating all the interesting musical choices FKJ and Eryn Allen Kane make throughout the track, and the way everything in the composition and production is shamelessly focused on pleasing the ear. And I suppose that’s the other reason I wouldn’t want to catalog every little thing I love about it: Why risk reducing the pleasures of this music by overthinking it? I’m pretty sure a lot of why this works is just a lot of very good raw instincts.

Buy it from Bandcamp.

Jhené Aiko featuring Larry June “Neighbors”

In a contemporary pop world clogged with ambivalent songs about situationships, hopeless heteropessimism, and bitter songs about breakups, it’s refreshing to hear a song as wholesome and hopeful as this. Jhené Aiko sings from the perspective of a woman who has recently moved into a new building and gets a crush on the guy across the hall, and Larry June plays that guy, and he’s into her too. It’s just that simple! Like, he’s not even a creep or a weirdo, she makes a point of noting “I can tell your mama raised you right.” June and Aiko play it sweet and down-to-earth but keep the vibe cool rather than veer into corniness. The keyboard parts by Julian-Quan Viet Le are what really make this work – elegant and lightly jazzy, but filtered and mixed to give it a hazy daydream quality. The production dodges formality without losing the romantic sparkle on the piano flourishes.

Buy it from Amazon.