Shy Girls

Today, Canada-via-Switzerland producer Cyril Hahn steps out with his debut single, "Perfect Form", which will see release in official form on September 9 via PMR, who have already taken over the month with impressive offerings such as Dornik's "Something About You" and T. Williams' "Three Letters" and is increasingly becoming one of the most impressive pop-leaning dance labels around. The throbbing, beatific "Perfect Form" features a vocal take from Portland R&B-leaning artist Shy Girls, whose "Under Attack" we posted around these parts back in February. - Pitchfork

Today, Canada-via-Switzerland producer Cyril Hahn steps out with his debut single, "Perfect Form", which will see release in official form on September 9 via PMR, who have already taken over the month with impressive offerings such as Dornik's "Something About You" and T. Williams' "Three Letters" and is increasingly becoming one of the most impressive pop-leaning dance labels around. The throbbing, beatific "Perfect Form" features a vocal take from Portland R&B-leaning artist Shy Girls, whose "Under Attack" we posted around these parts back in February. - Pitchfork

Okay, test: try listening to Shy Girls' falsetto on "Under Attack" without a single feeling. Not elation, not horniness, not that weird R&B thing where the experience of another human's unbridled emotional expression over a cold-ass sax solo makes you want to shed every layer of defensive self-consciousness that keeps you from crying and pointing at the sky just cause that girl hasn't texted you back yet. If you passed this test, I know something you'll definitely fail: a captcha, because you're a malicious spambot. Get off this website. - Noisey / VICE

It’s the last dance of the night and you’re hoping she hasn’t noticed the thudding in your chest through the fabrics of your two shirts. You’re holding her close and barely moving, waiting urgently for the song to end but hoping it never does.

This girl is like the one from last weekend and all the weekends before, but there’s something about her. Her laugh has a different texture, her hair smells like peppermint, her lips look heavier and heavenly. She makes you feel tipsy, but also more sober than you have in a long time.

Listen to The-Drum’s remix of “Under Attack” by Shy Girls and hear it again, anew. - Yours Truly

It’s the last dance of the night and you’re hoping she hasn’t noticed the thudding in your chest through the fabrics of your two shirts. You’re holding her close and barely moving, waiting urgently for the song to end but hoping it never does.

This girl is like the one from last weekend and all the weekends before, but there’s something about her. Her laugh has a different texture, her hair smells like peppermint, her lips look heavier and heavenly. She makes you feel tipsy, but also more sober than you have in a long time.

Listen to The-Drum’s remix of “Under Attack” by Shy Girls and hear it again, anew. - Yours Truly

While some of their contemporaries are content to come at you sideways, Portland's Shy Girls are straightshooters. "Under Attack," their first single since last year's rerelease of their 2011 debut Sex in the City, wins you over by forcing you to face it head-on. Marrying the quiet-storm simmer of early-1990s R&B with the chest-rattle of modern-day bass music, it's a devastating slow jam that knows just how long to withhold its pleasures. Warm, rubbery bass gives the track its steady pulse, and from there it builds brick-by-brick-- adding slinky guitars first, then additional layers of synths, and finally, a massive chorus with drums that snap so hard you'll grab your chest to make sure it hasn't burst.

Frontman Dan Vidmar's lightly-reverbed vocals possess a clarity and weight that sells his three a.m. desperation; when he launches into his falsetto pre-chorus, it's thrilling. "Your lips are under attack," he states in the gut-punch of a hook-- but it's not a case of physical intimacy being used as a weapon as much as in-the-moment ecstasy spilling out in all directions. "No more clubs, no more parties," Vidmar vows as the glow starts to fade, "No more drugs and no more shame." Romantic encounters are rarely spiritual rebirths, but that doesn't mean they don't offer other equally satisfying benefits. - Pitchfork