Holy Motors and Sadu lead ERR’s new music roundup

ERR’s latest Uue muusika reede roundup highlights new releases from Holy Motors, Sadu, Clicherik, Duo Ruut and other artists. The selection includes another preview of Holy Motors’ upcoming album, a new direction for Sadu, Jorja Smith’s move into dance music and Robin Koljak’s take on country music.

Holy Motors, Hellishly Hot

Holy Motors have released another song from their album due on October 16. After the band’s first Estonian-language single, Tallinn täna õhtul, Eliann Tulve takes a different approach on Hellishly Hot. Her performance, combined with the song’s jerky, danceable turns, quickly dispels any expectation of a repeat.

Spotify’s five cities with the most Holy Motors listeners do not include Tallinn, although Istanbul is among them. That makes it difficult to seriously demand more Estonian-language material from the band, regardless of how well the previous song worked. Fortunately, Hellishly Hot also succeeds, although it feels more like an evening breeze along the cheekbones after an unbearably hot day than the hellish heat promised by its title.

Robin Koljak, I Love My Boat

Robin Koljak makes his debut in the roundup after releasing the double single Try Being a Crow on Wednesday. The first of its two songs, I Love My Boat, is cheerful, relaxed and naive sailing country. It is neither tiringly country nor quite folk in the usual local sense, instead finding an interesting space between the two that is rarely heard here.

Clicherik and Miauf, Musita

After releasing the EP Elekter in the first half of the year, Clicherik was left without a label when Universal closed. He has now joined Kurvad uudised, as artists often do in such circumstances.

On Musita, Clicherik continues exploring hyper-rap, joined by singer Miauf, who appeared in this roundup in June with the successful single Parem.

Zetod, Lätsi küllä

Zetod are bringing the folk summer to a close, or adding one of its final commas, with a new single that is expected to appear on an album due next year. The single also announces the forthcoming album.

The song may sound familiar, as though Zetod have already released it. Their songs always occupy a dependable place, meeting expectations set by earlier material.

Sadu, Laulu.seest.välja.ei.saa

Sadu’s new single could instead mark the end of the folk summer, assuming such a thing exists at all. The group’s pop-leaning pop-folk moves fully into pop territory on the new track.

The song does not fit easily into Sadu’s earlier template. It is too large, dense and hungry, perhaps even ambitious. Folk remains mainly in the structure and delivery of some verses, as well as in a sound running through the entire track that, heard from a distance, might be a violin or bagpipe, or perhaps a sample from one of Skrillex’s crashing productions.

The successful music video also drives away any smell of woollen socks from the room. Its choreography, which seems uncharacteristic of Sadu and may draw on hip-hop or house, underlines the song’s new density and loosens its folk restraints. At the end of the musical summer, Sadu’s new song is an exclamation mark in any case.