#11 - Summrs - "put out fye" + "Blood Always Thicker" (prod. Goyxrd)

Dec 13, 2021

After listening to plugg(nb) in a plethora of contexts — out my laptop speakers while working on something else, through the Airpods during walks, at a live show — I’ve realized that the best way to appreciate the music is through high-quality headphones and while I’m chilling in bed. So much of what makes the subgenre stuporific — the light flutter of certain sounds, the slow-mo bounce of the beat, the soothing warble of the voice — gets flattened when you play it out of a crummy built-in computer or phone speaker.

Once I give a song like “put out fye” my undivided attention, the layers of petal-pretty synths and gem-bright sound effects, perfectly stacked atop and between and below Summrs’ syrupy croons, wrap around my ears like a toasty cocoon. There’s an otherworldliness, tinged with wonder and woe, about Goyxrd’s instrumental that reminds me of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon — of the game’s soundtrack itself and the themes of the game (friendship, discovery, saying goodbye).

“Blood Always Thicker” has a similarly enchanting beat, but Summrs’ lyrics are reflective and penetrating. He’s a great storyteller who can somehow narrate how his drug use has gone beyond a coping mechanism and his anxious relationships with family members whilst vocally moonwalking over Goyxrd’s floaty backing. The song comes from Summrs’ recent album nothing More Nothing LESS, which is about the rapper’s unhealed emotional wounds from the SoFaygo War, where 200,000 Slayworld soldiers perished, the meme page Hyperpop Daily told No Bells in a recent interview.