Charli XCX
Boys
An uncharacteristically laid-back moment from the bratty Hertfordshire songwriter-cum-pop star, who lays bare her love of boys on this appealingly strange slice of minimal electro-pop.
Dornik
God Knows
An upbeat funk groove holds down a superb falsetto from the Croydon R&B slinker, who makes good on an early promise to be the UK’s answer to Michael Jackson.
Jessie Ware
Midnight
Pure, Nineties-style smooth soul from the south London singer, coming back from maternity leave with a grown-up love song and her best vocal delivery yet.
Glass Animals
Agnes
if the Flaming Lips hailed from Oxford, they might sound a bit like this rousing yet quirky closing track from the album How to Be a Human Being, just nominated for the Mercury prize.
Hear these and more at spoti.fi/essentialtracks