Song of the Day: Still Corners - Fireflies

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s featured song, selected by Morning Show host John Richards, is "Fireflies” by Still Corners from the 2013 album Strange Pleasures on Sub Pop.

Still Corners - Fireflies (MP3)

While Still Corners first made a name for themselves with their 2012 shoegaze-inspired album, Creatures of an Hour, their sophomore album, Strange Pleasures, has moved the London-based group, now a duo, into 80s synth pop - but not the neon colored variety. The new album is like a clear dream about past love, cinematic and endlessly absorbing. Nostalgia tints the song writing - usually from the pen of Austin, TX, native Greg Hughes - which escapes to our ears through the breathy yet soaring voice of vocalist Tessa Murray. A chance meeting on the Tube in London may have brought them together, but there was very little chance involved in creating Strange Pleasures. Hughes reveals, "I see it principally as a widescreen pop album, clear, with upfront vocals. It’s a little epic, but not really retro-futuristic. There aren’t a ton of layers this time; everything has its place and is focused." One listen to today's featured song and you'll realize that the album does exactly what Hughes intended it to. "Fireflies," the first taste of Strange Pleasures' blissed-out new sound, captures the feeling of a warm summer night, of being young and watching lights dance, remembered years later, before "the days of the year we lost in the firelight."

Still Corners will be on tour with another KEXP favorite, CHVRCHES, over the next few months. Unfortunately, they won't be hitting Seattle, but they'll be at Portland's Wonder Ballroom on May 28. Check out more dates and music on their Facebook page and watch their dizzying young-love (and filmed in Seattle!) music video for "Berlin Lovers" now: