This London-based newcomer sings like someone who has better things to do. It’s also of a piece with her original material, notably “Fall Over” ( ), which indulges what appears to be a boundless appetite for minor chords. singer-songwriter, other than that she has good taste in other people’s music and gives amazing gifts - this cover of the Peter Gabriel classic was a Father’s Day present to her dad. Little is known about this one-named L.A. At the end of the song’s five minutes and 11 seconds, however, you’ll just be grateful they did. This preview of the band’s first proper album since 2010’s Darker Circles sounds like it could’ve been recorded or in 1965 or last Thursday, in London or Brooklyn, after listening to a stack of records by The Yardbirds ( ) or Patti Smith ( ). The irregular lyrics (“We are the air between the trees”) and an unabashed musical debt to “All Around the World”-era Daft Punk ( ) take care of the rest. The title alone is reason enough to check out this first-album preview by Halifax producers/multi-instrumentalists Colin Crowell and Craig Mercer. In fact, as far as ‘00s hip-hop goes, the muted pop of Iyaz’s “Replay” ( ) isn’t that far removed in tone from Sheeran’s signature hit, “The A Team” ( ), though that only becomes apparent in retrospect.

Given the latter’s past collaborations with grime artists ( ) and his taste in cover material (Blackstreet’s “No Diggity:” ), this mash-up isn’t as unlikely as it first appears. will preview the new material with a short club tour, including a July 18 stop at Danforth Music Hall. Produced by French house DJ Surkin and her longtime co-producer Switch, this dizzying concoction revolves around what sounds like a sample of a creaking chair and overflows with so many effects, it’s like she’s condensed an entire album into 3 ½ minutes. Based on this first single, she’s pulling out all the stops to regain her once-lofty perch. (From Melt Yourself Down, )Īfter the take- that return to form that was last year’s “Bad Girls” ( ), Maya Arulpragasam is finally ready to release her chronically delayed fourth album. Other than Kuban - of whom leader Pete Wareham has professed himself a fan - we wouldn’t be surprised if he’d never heard a single note by any of them. What makes Melt Yourself Down so memorable is the utterly unselfconscious way in which they meld them all together.

You can probably pick out three or four stray influences on these London up-and-comers without even trying: post-punkers Pigbag ( ), no-waver James Chance ( ), Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit” ( ), and “Habibi” ( ) by Nubian singer Ali Hassan Kuban. (From Takes Time (Instrumentals and demos), ) It’s as though it’s all Guthrie can do to voice the song’s disaffection before succumbing to it. Among the latter, he has taken Simon and Garfunkel’s world-weary original ( ) and made it sound downright buoyant by comparison.

In the meantime, he has put out a companion volume of demos, instrumentals and covers. Now that this Toronto-via-Guelph artist has joined the likes of Metric, Whitehorse, and Tegan and Sara on this year’s Polaris Music Prize long list ( ), perhaps his entry, Takes Time, will get the attention it deserves.

Phlo finister