SOTD #120 // earrings: ‘luv’

It’s common convention nowadays for a breakthrough artist to have a distinct air of mystery surrounding their music. Needless to say, earrings, of whom we can’t even give you a specific location for, let alone his religious views and favourite hobbies, is is of a similar enigma to the likes of jj, Salem and Summer Camp when they first emerged.

Note that all of the above have enjoyed remarkable success over the past 12 months, partly due to their masked identities. But naturally, it helps to have a couple of good songs to your name. ‘luv’, earrings’ first offering, latches onto the “chillwave” craze and immediately gives substance to the secrecy.

Vocals are surprisingly exposed for an artist who’s not showing their face. Soulful and pop-inclined, they add immediacy to the dreamlike, sedated beach atmosphere. Even if the heavily-dismissed genre dies out before it gets going, earrings makes a fine attempt at developing the “chillwave” sound, ignoring the tradition of shrouding the finer elements of a song in reverb and drowning everything out with thick beats. Little may be known, but you can already pin ambition to the earrings ethos.

earrings: ‘luv’