White Hinterland - "Baby"

Austere and cold and knotty. These are some words I would use to describe the second track to drop from the new White Hinterland record, Baby. This title track is dramatic, playing with multiple layers of Casey Dienel's voice (some of which are under some sort of robotic effect), skittering beats, and synth stabs, while still retaining the lite-R&B vibe she has taken to as of late. The refrain of "Is this my weakness?" grows more and more insistent, until the glorious climax, where all of her voices come head to head in their beautiful, gruff imperfection. Ending with a short coda of completely unadorned, almost-screeching voice is a brave move on Dienel's part, and it pays off immaculately.

Baby is out April 1, via Dead Oceans.

White Hinterland - "Ring the Bell"

Casey Dienel's White Hinterland project has been extremely quiet since the release of their last LP, the great Kairos. Now, four years later, Dienel is ready to release the project's third album, Baby. The first track to drop from it, "Ring the Bell", sounds like a natural progression from the songs on Kairos, except this time Dienel is going for something less nocturnal. While she retains and expands upon the R&B/Dirty Projectors-influenced vocality of that album's highlights (especially the still-awesome "Cataract"), she also pushes the brightness level up to 11. This song is busy; so much more cacophonous and dizzying than anything she's done yet. The melody is full of surprising little twists, and the horns that enter partway through are a nice touch. I'm so glad White Hinterland are finally back, and this song gets me so pumped for their new LP.

Watch the lyric video above and look out for Baby on April 1, via Dead Oceans.