Photo by Kathy Wolford Harner
We brought KOTOMI to your attention back in May, when she put out bedroom dream-pop track Swimming. Lauren Hillman has been endeavouring to release a new song every month this year, and now we’ve been presented with July’s edition, Shiny.
Swimming had a sort of twilight, dreamy quality about it, but Shiny is straight-out electro-pop, echoing acts like COMPUTER MAGIC. It’s loaded with sharp melodies and sugary synths, with Hillman’s vocal staying low and dusky during the verses before stretching to the higher notes for the soaring chorus. Lyrically, it’s a kind of euphoric “fuck it, finally!” anthem (with Hillman announcing “I’ve waited years, now I know I’m here”), backed up by clever production work, before mutating into a disco groove outro for the final minute. Shiny is available to download, for exactly no money, from KOTOMI’s Soundcloud page, and there’s really no legitimate excuse not to.
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