After their recent tracks ‘Get Wild’ and ‘Run Out of Love’ picked up a flurry of tastemaker tips on both sides of the Atlantic along with key streaming support on all major platforms, LOVE SICK today present their debut mixtape ‘SICK’. Released alongside a new video for ‘U R’, the mixtape finds the Scottish alt/electro duo living up to the immense potential they demonstrated with their acclaimed early tracks ‘Bullet’ and ‘Fever’. Listen HERE.
Entirely written and produced by the duo, ‘SICK’ sees the duo explore the sizzling tension and tender subtleties that can make or break relationships. Channelling late-night hedonism, it dives into a multitude of reference points including Miley Cyrus’ eclectic ‘SHE IS COMING’, Mark Ronson’s heartbreak anthem collection ‘Late Night Feelings’ as well as the festival-conquering Caribou and woozy electronic maverick Kaytranada.
LOVE SICK commented, “The mixtape is about the ups and downs of relationships. From euphoric moments to breaking up and making up, going through heaven and hell for someone you love and how love sometimes doesn’t feel like love.”
In addition to the two recent singles, ‘SICK’ introduces three new tracks which delve into the experiences that add a darkly enticing addiction to LOVE SICK’s exploratory cocktail of electro angst, alt-pop and ominous R&B: namely that love is a package of pleasure and pain in which tenderness and trauma present themselves at almost random intervals.
That rollercoaster ride is charted with utmost honesty on ‘U R’. Julie Knox’s impassioned voice contrasts the highs and lows of romance within the same line, the target of her affections being simultaneously like morphine and cocaine, like weekends and Mondays. Shaun Canning’s synths and beats add to the woozy intoxication and uncertainty, as the hook proves that love is indeed sick: “We break up, we make up, then we fight, then we fuck. Every night.”
The song’s accompanying video makes for a strong introduction to the LOVE SICK live experience. Julie channels the song’s conflicts into a performance with a charismatic allure that’s somehow both bewitching and understated, while Shaun is animated in the background, bathed in moody, atmospheric lighting. The video was directed by Luigi Calabrese.
Watch the video for ‘U R’ (Live) – BELOW:
‘SICK’ is completed by ‘High Highs’ which – naturally – is just as much about the lowest of lows, while ‘Lose Sleep’ possesses a soaring seductive topline and sweetly twisted synth textures to heighten the feverish intensity of its lustrous lyrics.
‘SICK’ is the first instalment of two interconnected mixtapes that LOVE SICK will release this year. This first chapter is the more leftfield and lo-fi of the two sets, with the second promising to be a brighter counterpoint to the darker themes that this current mixtape prioritises.
Julie and Shaun first met at a work Christmas party before accidentally reuniting through a random re-encounter at a train station in Glasgow. Fate had made their decision for them, as soon they were hooking up and working on music at the same time. Love, sex, creativity and work all within one relationship? In retrospect maybe you could guess that things would become volatile.
Whatever twisted chemistry they conjured, however, gave their music that extra injection of raw reality. As their first two singles and early shows with Glass Animals and Chet Faker enamoured audiences, LOVE SICK took the brave decision to instead step back. They took the time to push their sonic boundaries and personal limitations to the max, while also establishing the aesthetic universe around their music. They also wanted to hold back during lockdown and instead reveal their new music as the world was reunited.
‘SICK’ tracklist:
1. ‘Run Out Of Love’
2. ‘Get Wild’
3. ‘U R’
4. ‘Lose Sleep’
5. ‘High Highs’
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