Listen: Maxine Ashley – “Perpetual Nights”

Following up her sultry cover of Portishead’s “Glory Box” from last September, the Pharrell Williams-endorsed Maxine Ashley does an about-turn on new track “Perpetual Nights”.

Heavily washed with an innocent early 90s’ R&B matte, it’s a song that almost collapses under the weight of the N.E.R.D. man’s trademark dry production but that’s kind of the point: the song feels so utterly then and now all at the same time.

The 20-year old Bronx-born Ashley’s links with Pharell go back some years and he also pops up in the Lady Tragik-directed clip wearing that Vivienne Westwood hat. Of course.