Add to playlist: ddwy's blissed-out downtempo and the week's best new tracks

The Guardian

10 hours ago

From Greater LondonRecommended if you like The Starseeds, Sun Electric, the Orb
Up next Beaming Backwards out now on Test Pressing Recordings
Welding dubbed-out instrumentals with dreamy vocals and cosmic flourishes, ddwy's music captures the spirit of a 90s Ibiza chillout set. In fact, their last label joked that their tracks were 'perfect for Balearic DJs'. But the project actually has its roots far away from the flurry of the white isle: many of the songs were made from a kitchen table in a Greater London suburb where the duo are based.
Made up of wife and husband Naomi Pieris and Ronan MT (ddwy means 'two' in Welsh), the project was born in 2020 from Covid-era home experiments. Their tracks conserve that intimacy: layered around guitars, percussion and washes of synths, Pieris's vocals are soft and half-murmured, while field recordings are drawn from visits to her native Sri Lanka and voicemails from relatives.
Some of their material has an almost ambient quality – spacious, drumless – but other parts adopt more of a club sensibility, drawing on progressive and deep house. In the years since those early lockdown jams, the pair have gone on to release a small handful of records which they perform live at clubs and beachside festivals across Europe, as well as dimly lit DIY venues closer to home.
On their new EP Beaming Backwards, ddwy continue to explore these (interlocking, rather than clashing) sides. Alongside the pulsing late-night rollers (Beaming Backwards, Peak Smile), there's a blissed-out downtempo moment (Stars, Stars), and a gorgeous take on a Sri Lankan lullaby, complete with piano and strings (Heuldro'r Haf – Welsh for 'summer solstice'). It's the perfect soundtrack for this time of year, when the days are still long and the nights are still warm: sweet, but a bit melancholy too. Safi Bugel
Mammo – TractionOne of six universe-sharpening tracks on the Dutch producer's stunning new album, this has the ethereal throb of dub techno's greats, but with counter-rhythms inveigling themselves from the edges.
​George Riley – SlowAfter recent appearances on tracks from Logic1000, HiTech and Sherelle, one of UK dance's best vocalists keeps the werk rate high with this exquisite house track, Riley holding back from a too-intoxicating romance.
Oasis – Acquiesce (Unplugged)As the band play their first reunion tour date tonight in Cardiff – follow the Guardian's live blog later! – Noel Gallagher has brilliantly remixed a version of their classic B-side, making it more insistent and grooving.
Ethel Cain – Fuck Me EyesNot what a Yorkshire person says when it's a bit bright out, but rather pulp fiction done as a synthpop power ballad, about a wayward young woman who 'goes to church straight from the clubs'.
​John Glacier – Fly With MeComing after an excellent Glastonbury set, and rolling over a distorted head-nodding beat, the British rapper casts herself as a supernaturally powerful figure transcending earthly bonds thanks to her own skill.
Perfect 100 – SundayThe debut single from this solo​ grunge-pop project by Brooklyn's Andrew Madore is a ripper, with distorted guitar ​reminiscent of Yo La Tengo or Dinosaur Jr, and​ harmonised vocals adding a dash of vanilla sweetness.
Naemi – Hutchison​Closing out their gorgeous new dream-pop album Breathless, Shorn, this track features acoustic guitar and bass motifs repeating around bird-chirrups and reverb: one for post-picnic snoozing this summer. Ben Beaumont-Thomas
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