Rose Gray captures the magic of the dancefloor in disco-drenched “Last Song”

Walthamstow’s own Rose Gray is no stranger to the spotlight. Her first mixtape, Dancing, Drinking, Talking, Thinking, was met with widespread acclaim last year, and breakout track “Same Cloud” propelled her to centre-stage of a loud and proud Brit-pop revival. However, on the release of her latest single, “Last Song” – her first via new label home Play It Again Sam (Lykke Li, Anna of the North, Soul Wax) - the spotlights are decidedly tinted neon.

“Last Song” is a track that lives and breathes liminality – the transgressive haze of night, the fleeting feeling of catching the eyes of someone across the club, and the valiant attempts at separating rational thought from your inebriated conscience. It perfectly encapsulates the sweaty, bedraggled end of night energy of dancing through the precipice, as you desperately try to hold on to those last few moments of disco bliss.

Rose explains, “I wrote ‘Last Song’ about falling for someone on the dancefloor, just as the night is coming to a close – the sun’s coming up, the lights are about to come on. It’s that knowing feeling that it can’t last. In essence, it’s a love song to myself,” she continues, “lyrically I play with an inner debate I actually had in the moment about being strong and leaving a situation, keeping it as something short and sweet rather than pursuing a connection.” This same awareness and self-assurance is woven into the very fabric of Rose’s discography, demanding, rather than asking permission, that she is here to stay.

Liminal in itself, the melody of “Last Song” revels in the removal of strict genre borders to reside on the happy intersection between disco, dance-pop, and house. At once, it manages to sound so current that it would not be out of place on the playlist of the next Love Island house party, and yet, it also serves as a clear homage to sultry 90s warehouse and 00s disco-pop. Capturing its transcendence, Rose describes it as “an ethereal house record with a sprinkle of rave and a nod to Kylie early ’00s. I love it.”

Produced by Nick Sylvester, its production is electrifyingly addictive. The sonic equivalent of a double vodka cranberry - sugary enough to knock back with ease, yet with enough bite to satisfy a hedonistic craving – the track whets the appetite for future cravings.

In an overcrowded market of club “last songs” - whether that be Robbie Williams’ “Angels”, The Killers’ “Mr Brightside”, or Faithless’ “Insomnia”, Rose Gray impressively carves a space for her single to nestle. In a beautiful and cyclical kind of magic, it could well soundtrack someone else’s late-night dancing in years to come.