Goth Babe - Driving South (feat. Blood Cultures)

It’s kind of odd to say, but Goth Babe has a sound that ruled the airwaves about a decade or so ago. That was a simpler time. A time when the prospect of getting through all the weekly releases felt more like a gratifying chore than an insurmountable task. But music also just plain sounded different back then. Maybe it’s because musicians weren’t compromising the creative process in order to maintain streaming relevancy. Or maybe we at Lower Frequencies have simply succumbed to that inevitable Golden Age fallacy - where those warm feelings of nostalgia create a skewed sense of the past. Regardless, it’s always a treat to her an artist that’s capable of fostering those feelings of historical longing - which is where Goth Babe x Blood Culture’s “Driving South” comes in to play. It’s a tropical pop ballad featuring Latin percussion and sparkly lo-fi synths that’s a stark change of pace from Goth Babe’s previous guitar-centric, Phantogram-esq single “Running Around.” They are both featured on his excellent new Santa Catalina EP, which is the latest in a long line of location-based EPs. And what’s abundantly clear based on both sound and intention is that Goth Babe’s Griff Washburn is making music for all the right reasons - the way artists used to do it - about a decade or so ago.