Echoing out the of the darkness, war-like drums announce ‘Deception Bay’, Milk & Bone’s new single, which cements this singing-songwriting-producing pair’s astonishingly good ear for alternative-pop. As the beats dim into the background, sparse piano and elfin vocals stand at the fore of a song about rejection, betrayal and a demand to be treated as a fellow human. Perhaps ‘Deception Bay’ conveys a symptom of our current throwaway culture, a custom that has bled into dating and relationships, or perhaps there’s a deeper, personal one-on-one experience being told. There’s an absolute sense of fragility, with the EQ sweeps, horns, wooden percussion and electronic notches rising up to meet the desperate chorus. Montreal’s Laurence Lafond-Beaulne and Camille Poliquin really are playing the long game with this one as their next album isn't slated for release until winter 2018, but now we have two tracks already - ‘Daydream’ and ‘Deception Bay’. - HT