With a slew of stellar singles already neatly tucked in her back pocket, JÁNA makes a welcome return with her newest track, “Buds”. The latest piece to be highlighted from her recently released debut EP Flowerworks, the track is an alluring side-step from the emerging Swedish talent.
Once again working with fellow Swede’s Little Dragon, “Buds” was co-written with band vocalist Yukimi Nagano and produced alongside drummer Erik Bodin and only reinforces the diversity that JÁNA brings to her striking sound. Whilst “Wild Roses” was ruled by its coursing bassline and “Lotus” conjured a honeyed sweetness with its lush guitar and jazz-inflected percussion, “Buds” takes a more low-key route.
Sparse drums and idly loose guitar work lazily intertwine amidst a smooth undercurrent of bass, stylistic smatters of rewound tape looping retrospectively. This understated sound only goes to highlight JÁNA’s easy-listening vocal; pitched, soulful and refined, she murmurs her longing with a resigned, knowing sadness. It is a tone that reinforces itself upon closer inspection.
“’Buds’ is a song about growth, but more specifically about growing apart from someone you love,” JÁNA elaborates. “Feeling a friction within a relationship without being able to change it.
“Perhaps at first the differences were what made the relationship stronger,” she continues. “But once the thing holding the relationship together is no longer there, those differences don’t match anymore."
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