KIMU

Neon Hitch is in town, which means that she is technically back home – kinda. The gypsy pop princess and I spent the better half of this afternoon listening to her new EP ‘Happy Neon’ which drops next Monday 14th.

The EP is five tracks – which all tell a story collectively. Without giving too much away, it goes as follows. The opener is Pink Fields which Neon took the inspiration from a literal pink field on her travels in the UK and wrote at Stonehenge, the production is incomparable and immediately from the opening, the sound is much darker than the Neon that has graced the Billboard charts. Hitch has been working with the likes of Happy Perez (who produced the whole EP), Darkchild and Benny Blanco – and the value of this track (and every other track) is pretty much untouchable. The second track is called Midnight Sun, and features audio excerpts and vocals (yes VOCALS) from Marilyn Monroe singing “I just want to be loved by you”, along with the lyrics “he wants to fuck me like a rock star”. Track three is called Believe – with an incredible catchy chorus, dubstep vibe, claps and can be taken to be the “freedom/inspiration” track from the EP, it includes sample from The Wizard of Oz. With the fourth track Jailhouse, the EP takes a darker turn, with issues with the label rising to the surface somewhat (her album Beg, Borrow, and Steal still doesn’t have an exact release date). Finally, Born To Be Remembered – no autotune, truly hero-ing her vocals, a slower pace and pretty much perfection.

Below is the EP artwork, which is the caravan where Hitch grew up. The EP drops on 14 January and Pink Fields has a video directed by PotsNPans – preview below. Oh and Neon has recorded a track with A$AP Rocky which should be on his next EP or album – 2013 is definitely going to be her year.