Listen: In Your Arms by Real Pleasure

Real Pleasure is the musical project of writer and producer Kevin Claxton, and here on In Your Arms we find him channeling French Touch by way of LA.

Single In Your Arms leverages a distinctive bassline and combines them with the kind of steely guitar licks that Daft Punk built their careers on. Unlike Daft Punk, however, Real Pleasure lets In Your Arms gently marinade, basking in a hook that is given plenty of space.

Inspired by small house parties in the later period of the COVID pandemic, Claxton wrote In Your Arms between 2022 and 2023. The lyrics were inspired a ‘tender group hug between friends on a living room dance floor at about 2am’, and are performed by LA-based artist Natalie Sawicki. The whole song was written by Claxton, and produced in Los Angeles, lending the song its slower, open aesthetic and a bright sunny style, yet combining it with an emotionally reflective feel.

Check out In Your Arms below, and look out for a forthcoming remix from rave outfit, Adam After Hours.

Listen: Felt by Tiberius

Tiberius was originally created as a solo project for Brendan Wright, before expanding to a rowdy Boston four-piece who specialise in the niche that Wright describes as “Farm Emo”. It is a label that suits the sound of new single, Felt, well.

Basking in the low slung stylings of slacker rock but with an anxious and damaged vocal, Felt sounds like a cross-over project between Death Cab For Cutie and Pavement. Loose drums skitter as layers of guitars gently howl, Wright’s vocals describing a moment of torture, wrestling with their own personal fear of being alone. Describing the song, Brendan says:

‘When I wrote Felt, I was fairly fresh out of a breakup and was spending a lot of time looking for distractions. Instead of tackling some bigger questions, and engaging in a healthy recovery, I was tucking away my feelings into compartments and distracting myself with casual dating. I was spending some late nights slipping into the backstories of strangers' lives - exhilarating, but merely theatrical. It never eased the issue at hand. I was alone, and I was terrified to sit with that.’

I appreciate the freewheeling and lackadaisical aesthetic on Felt, partly just because there has always been something enticing about the sound of a band operating in this way. It is like they are in slow motion, and letting things just happen, free jazz like. But the delivery also suits the subject matter here, of someone somewhat deliberately avoiding confronting what they are actually feeling.

Felt comes ahead of Tiberius’ forthcoming album, Troubadour, which is due via Audio Antihero on 14 November. Check it out below.

Watch: So Long (L'Étranger Remix) by MKSTN

Having previously appeared on BlackPlastic a few times, over ten years ago, L’Étranger is back with a disco-infused remix of Toronto producer MKSTN’s So Long.

UK producer L’Étranger leverages the ethereal and wisp-like vocals of MKTSN’s chillwave / dreampop original but pairs them with a lively French Touch bass pattern and crisp synths. The result is blue, Mediterranean warmth, compared to the original’s more Pacific feel.

L’Étranger applies his touch delicately here, and the result retains the organic, earthy aesthetic of the original. The remix is intended to take the ‘slow burn melancholy’ of the original version and shift it to the ‘exact moment the sun dips behind the city skyline’. It hints at the promise of the evening to come, but retaining an air of cool reserve, taking inspiration from early Kitsuné Maison compilations and Braxe & Falke, blog house but with a little extra romance.

Overall, I found this remix of So Long emotive and atmospheric, nostalgic and yet fresh. Check it out below.

Watch: Something In Common by Kendra Morris

Opening with a nervous sounding Wurlitzer refrain and a guitar melody that carefully strolls through its duration, Something In Common is the new single from Kendra Morris. Originally appearing on BlackPlastic all the way back in 2014, Morris' latest release comes from the forthcoming ‘board game concept album’, Next, the song represents its most introspect moment.

Initially constructed with little more than those two elements, guitar and Wurlitzer, together with Morris’ brutally emotive vocal, the song was written in an afternoon on guitar and using a looped sample. Later, when in the Portage Lounge studio in Loveland, Ohio, Morris’ full band helped lay down what you hear here. The Wurlitzer was laid down in full by Monti Miramonti, classic nylon string guitar by Supremo ‘Premo’ Massiv, and they are pulled together with a looped drum machine. Despite its simplicity, these four elements come together to create a song with significant depth.

The depth in the song’s sound really stems from its message, which deals with the nature of humanity, our strength of emotion, and predisposition for conflict. The result feels weary, tired and slightly fearful. Explaining the song’s inspiration, Kendra says:

‘There is all this conflict in our humanity, both internal and external. We kill each other over our differences, or we destroy ourselves emotionally. We spend so much time fighting these battles, but in the end…. There are no winners or losers. In the end, we’re all the same: dust in the ground.’

Check out the lyric video for Something In Common below, and look out for the album, Next, which ties characters, including Kendra’s band, to a vintage board game ‘in the spirit of Milton Bradley’s finest retro dice-rolling moments’. Stepping through the block-to-block journey of the game, Next deals in a ‘mosaic of corals, creams, and pale lilac tiles’, with even that description evoking a surprisingly tactile feeling. The album is due out via Karma Chief on 19 September 2025.

Watch: No Reasons by Low Girl

Last featured on BlackPlastic with their 2023 release, Pockets, a song about trying to bury recurring emotions, UK four-piece Low Girl are back with their new single No Reasons. The new single, which comes from and ahead of Low Girls’ forthcoming debut album, Is It Too Late To Freak Out?, is a more upbeat affair than Pockets. This reflects more immediately dramatic source material, but brings a reflective mindset to conflict.

The song depicts a break-up with an angry-yet-playful aesthetic. Keys gently lay out a melody, the rhythm of which is echoed in the arrival of a solid kick drum. The combination gives the overall song a propulsive sense of momentum. Guitar adds a layer of gravelly texture, with Sarah Cosgrove’s vocal acting as an anchor around which the instrumentation orbits.

It is in the song’s closing minute that things really come alive, with synths, overdubbed vocals and clattering drums fully embracing the song’s darkness, before the whole thing comes to an abrupt stop. It’s a little like the last time you speak to an ex-partner — knowable in its inevitability, and yet the exact moment it happens is challenging to anticipate, and comes as a shock. The quiet once No Reasons ends is all the more notable.

Describing the song and its inspiration, Cosgrove said:

‘This was about an exceptionally messy, yet also weirdly empowering breakup. There was a lot of back and forth in the aftermath, and it seemed impossible to have a conversation that didn’t turn into an argument. As we spent more time apart, I began to feel more like myself. This newfound independence, however, came with a strong sense of indignation. There were so many things I’d normalised and accepted over the years that in hindsight felt really unfair. She probably felt the same, as neither of us had been perfect, but I came to realise I had little say in that relationship. Whilst this is an angry song, it has to be said that I really struggle with anger and usually avoid it at all costs. I’ve learnt that some anger is healthy, and it’s important for your self-esteem to stand up for yourself. I’m still finding a balance — some days it’s too much and some days too little. I guess this song is a little step towards an equilibrium!’

Check out the video for No Reasons below, and look out for the album Is It Too Late To Freak Out?, out via AWAL on 22 October 2025.