Something Underneath

Pop music that doesn’t feel cheap is a specific thing to solve. You need lightness without emptiness, simplicity that doesn’t sound simple. Tom Misch worked this out young—a guitarist and producer who released Beat Tape 1 on Bandcamp, a collection of songs that sound like he knows exactly what to leave out. Each track takes what it needs and stops.

There’s a melancholy running through all of it, the kind that keeps everything from being just pleasant background noise. Music you put on when you’re tired and need something that doesn’t demand anything from you but also isn’t empty. That balance is harder than it sounds.

I don’t know what else to say except it works. The restraint is real. Nothing’s there by accident.