Recommended: David Kofi and Ruth-Ellen, Isadora, Janelle Monáe, Rose Gold, NOËP

In Rec­om­mend­ed today: take things slow with David Kofi and Ruth-Ellen (pic­tured), take a ride with Rose Gold, lis­ten to more of Janelle Monáe’s likes, and get a taste of promis­ing new­com­ers Isado­ra and NOËP.

*** Lis­ten to even more new music on The Fresh List playlist ***

‘Breathe Slow (feat. Ruth-Ellen)’ by David Kofi

Lon­don-based musi­cians David Kofi and Ruth-Ellen have teamed up for this sub­lime piece of melod­ic R&B that’s all about tak­ing it slow. Over Kofi’s gen­tle, med­i­ta­tive rhythm, Ruth-Ellen’s rich voice – think Gabrielle or Szjer­dene – urges you to take it easy. Kofi’s Galaxy EP and Ruth-Ellen’s debut LP, Between Two Worlds are avail­able to stream now.

‘Be Mine’ by Isadora

“Feed me choco­late / Hold my hands / Tell me you are my man,” sings Isado­ra. The debut sin­gle from this Aus­tralian singer-song­writer is a del­i­cate love bal­lad. Pro­duced by Har­ri­son Ashcroft and Isado­ra, soft synth tones arc lethar­gi­cal­ly between your ears, while Isado­ra emotes with Aldois Hard­ing-style grace.

When Fringe Fre­quen­cy asked her what inspired the song, Isado­ra said: “I wrote this song at a point in my life where I want­ed to expe­ri­ence some­thing amaz­ing with­out fear of com­mit­ment and expec­ta­tion. It’s what I need­ed at that point in my life… just to dive in, although peo­ple said it would be risky. I think we place too much pres­sure and expec­ta­tions on every rela­tion­ship, when its OK to delve into the unknown and live in the moment. This song is about exact­ly that… div­ing into the unknown, expe­ri­enc­ing some­thing amaz­ing and liv­ing in the moment.”

‘I Like That’ by Janelle Monáe

There’s one week to go before Janelle Monáe’s new album, Dirty Com­put­er, arrives. It feels like excite­ment for the Kansas star is reach­ing a stratos­pher­ic lev­el. She pushed it fur­ther this week with the lush ‘I Like That’, a slow jam of soft vibra­tions and self-assured atti­tude. Monáe’s meta­mor­pho­sis continues.

‘Take a Ride’ by Rose Gold

Rose Gold deserves your atten­tion. Don’t take our word for it. Lis­ten to her on the viva­cious ‘Think­ing of You’ by musi­cian Ter­race Mar­tin, and you’ll see why this Bal­ti­more native has been mak­ing a name for her­self. She’s been writ­ing and releas­ing some fine cuts of ful­some neo-soul, includ­ing the catchy ‘Threw Me Off’. Her lat­est sin­gle, ‘Take a Ride’ is road music to for dri­ving way out into the hori­zon with your baby.

‘Loved the Love’ by NOËP

Eston­ian musi­cian and pro­duc­er NOËP likes to keep you guess­ing. In the space of three songs, he slides, con­fi­dent­ly between the vocal stylings of James Bay, Owl City and Dan Croll. ‘Loved to Love’ has a catchy rhythm of what sounds like a com­bi­na­tion of xylo­phone and pan­pipe tones, topped off with delib­er­ate­ly fleet­ing vocals about love that’s been and gone. NOËP’s debut EP, Heads in the Clouds, is worth check­ing out.

*** Lis­ten to even more new music on The Fresh List playlist ***

Image: cour­tesy of Ruth-Ellen