This week's must-listen singles: Odette, Rainbow Chan, SG Lewis + more

Every week, we're hammered with tonnes of new music from Australia and afar, so much so that at times, it feels a little overwhelming and you're not quite sure where to begin. Every week, we run down this week's must-listen singles and releases, this week featuring names like Odette, Rainbow Chan, SG Lewis and more. Check out Pilerats' homepage for more brilliant music and news, or subscribe to our Spotify Office Playlist for easy listening.

Odette - Lights Out

One of today's big album releases comes from Australian rising star Odette, who continues to showcase her craft with her debut album To A Stranger. Amongst the many highlights already released - What Me Read You, Take It To The Heart and Collide among them - sits some of the best Australian music of the year so far, and Lights Out - a previously unreleased track that follows on from the opening single Collide - is a prime example. Combining a soft piano-led instrumental with her soothing vocals, Lights Out is a masterclass on Odette's minimalist sound, relying on her emotive songwriting and haunting vocal presence to highlight her gripping sound. The album further establishes her as one of Australia's most exciting newcomers, something which you can see in person when she tours the country throughout August - full dates HERE.

Rainbow Chan - Promises

Sydney-via-Hong Kong musician Rainbow Chan has established herself as one of Australia's most talented names across the past few years, and although she's been relatively quiet across the year thus far, she's just returned to former glory with a brilliant new single in Promises. Arriving ahead of her shows with the Client Liaison Expo Festival/Tour, Promises is an intricate and dazzling display of Rainbow Chan's expert musicianship, uniting this rather pop-centric sound with her own unique shadings to create a track that is slick and flavourful - something we've come to love from Rainbow Chan over the years. Written about love and mobility in the global age, the romantic tinges underneath Promises' budding synth line and glistening percussive layers add just further depth to the single's already lush tone, and hopefully, shows some signs of what's to come from Chan through the rest of the year.

SG Lewis & Clairo - Better

UK producer SG Lewis and lo-fi sensation Clairo have been two of 2018's most prominent international musical forces, meaning that we're super, super excited to see them join forces for Better. The first taste of SG Lewis' forthcoming second album segment Dark (he's currently releasing his debut LP in three, EP-sized segments - Dusk, Dark and Dawn), Better is a subtle yet bright electro-pop gem, uniting SG Lewis' signature, funk-fuelled production with Clairo's bright vocal line, which feels noticeably more summer-soaked than much of the work on her own 2018 EP, Diary 001. It's a fantastic mix, and although Clairo and SG Lewis both have very distinct and separate sounds, Better unites them with a masterful touch in what is sure to be one of winter's warmer singles. Be sure to catch SG Lewis at his shows in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne towards the end of this month.

Hideous Sun Demon - Antithesis

WA trio Hideous Sun Demon are currently storming towards the release of their third album Fame, Erotic, Dream (due for release July 27th), and in the lead-up, they've just dropped another roaring new epic titled Antithesis. Antithesis is a grand and bold psych-punk epic that we've become accustomed too by the Perth three-piece, with the group putting it all on the line for what is possibly their most energetic and focused singles to date. "Antithesis is one of our most explosive tracks we’ve written; inspired by a certain kind of person who does malevolent or selfish things under the guise of good intention," the band says on the single, which combines these punching guitar melodies with thick percussion and soaring vocals. It further pushes forward the fact that the group are one of the most frenetic and crunching to come from Perth recently, something we can't wait to experience IRL as they play a heap of shows over August and September - full dates HERE.

Genesis Owusu - Awomen, Amen

20-year-old Australian/Ghanaian hip-hop musician Genesis Owusu has become one of our recent favourites, noticeably bursting onto the scenes with his unique and forward-thinking 2017 single Sideways. Awomen, Amen is his latest single, and it's another display of why he's one to keep an eye on throughout the rest of the year, with Owusu delivering one of the year's most powerful and impactful singles. It opens with a reading of an anti-slave speech from Sojourner Truth at a Women's convention in 1851, which cuts off before Owusu switches into gear for the single's primary meaning - which we're going to let Owusu take the reigns and explain for himself: "Awomen, Amen is not a love song. It is an ode to the female in all of her grace, elegance, nastiness, power, rebellion, boldness and ferocity. I didn’t write this song as one of the ‘Nice Guys’. I didn’t write it to show everyone that I’m the perfect man, who has never disrespected a woman in his life, or to be the poster boy ‘male feminist’. I have been gross and misogynistic before - I’ve been a teenage boy. Sometimes I still have to catch myself from being susceptible to my inherent male conditioning. I didn’t write this song as one of the ‘Nice Guys’, I wrote it as a man who is trying to understand and do better."