Upstairs Open fuse contrasting feelings and sounds on magical new cut "Chicago"
London-based pair Upstairs Open have peeled back the curtain to reveal superb second offering "Chicago".
The band's latest single (due 13 April via Believe) follows lauded opening gambit "You Got Love". Although not the first to be shared with the rest of the world, "Chicago" was the first track that Daniel James and Courtney Paynter wrote together.
"Chicago" sees James and Paynter drawing from ideas of distance - both emotional and physical - for a song that thrives on contrasts. "Although two people are together," Upstairs Open explain, "they can see what they have very differently, and it’s about coming to terms with that."
As well as thematic contrasts, the duo use seemingly disparate sounds to forge their path on the wonderully waltzing "Chicago". Dense, dub-dashed drops and screeching synthwork clashes with country-western harmonies and six-stringer licks - it's not electro and it's not Americana, although it draws from both (and more) to let the rest of the world peek into Upstairs Open's shadowy realm.
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