Skinny Dipping In A Neon Pool

Pill “Hotline”

All the sounds in this track signal danger – the thud of the drums, the buzzing siren quality of the organ, the traffic jam skronk of the sax. But Veronica Torres’ vocal pat seems to charge right into harm’s way, and her words and casually confrontational tone has a specific city girl “fuck you, asshole” quality that you don’t really find too often outside of vintage No Wave music. Her character is addressing creepy, predatory men, but she seems a bit creepy and predatory too – very aware of what she’s getting into, but willing to put up with some things to surround herself with convertibles and Infinity Pools.

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Christine and the Queens “Tilted”

“Tilted” is a translated version of a previous song, “Christine,” and though my French is rather poor and I can’t tell how similar the words are between the two, I am impressed by the English lyrics. “I am actually good” is a very interesting refrain for a pop song – defiant, but also oddly defensive. Maybe that’s just the sort of unique phrasing that comes out of translation, but I think it’s lovely. The words aren’t really the point though – in either iteration of this track, it’s really about how that melodic hook floats alongside that main keyboard part, which sorta flutters gracefully through the song’s ample negative space.

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