Daily Dose is your daily source for the song you absolutely, positively need to hear every day. Curated by the Paste Music Team.
When Jenny Lewis, Erika Spring and Tennessee Thomas joined forces as Nice as Fuck in 2016, they entranced listeners with their siren-like choruses, looping drums and synth-supported protests. Now, Spring is preparing to release a solo EP called Scars (out Oct. 5 via Cascine), and, so far, the singles resemble Nice as Fuck’s layered flair moreso than the punchy synth-pop of Au Revoir Simone, Spring’s first band, formed in 2003. The latest Scars track, “Less,” dropped today (Sept. 25), and it’s a bouncy response to the more somber title track, which debuted earlier in the month.
On “Scars,” Spring reckons with pain to the tune of icy keys. “Less,” however, is much more dancey, though no less pointed in the lyrical sense. “Who’s stopping you from making up the rest of it?” she sings over looping beats and trumpet-y synth. “I know what you’re trying to do.” “Less” is sharp, sensory fun.
“This song is a play on words, asking the listener to adjust their fixed view of the universe,” Spring said in a statement. “It’s also our love letter to the slightly out of tune Korg Polysix + Homer’s minimal, hypnotic drums.”
Scars is Spring’s first solo effort since her debut self-titled EP in 2012. She’ll perform on the same bill as Half Waif, Yumi Zouma and Maria Usbeckl for Cascine’s Label Night on Oct. 4 in Brooklyn. Scars is out Oct. 5.
Listen to “Less” below and, further down, Au Revoir Simone’s 2007 Daytrotter Session.