Heat Check: Off-Kilter Cuts For The In-Between

Don't be fooled. Spooky season isn't just reserved for the weeks leading up to Halloween. As the season shifts into colder temps, cradling death is just part of the process.

The unflinching sincerity and inherent disillusion of this week's playlist additions harp on that feeling of floating in the in-between, even if it feels unsettling. From a surprisingly sinister Frank Ocean freebie to a new direction for the normally airy and joyful April + VISTA, these selections give you space to suspend yourself, at least for a few moments at a time.

As usual, Heat Check is here for you to tune in, kick back, zone out or go ghost. Check out the playlist in its entirety on Spotify and Apple Music.

Tame Impala, "It Might Be Time"

In (agonizing) anticipation for Tame Impala's upcoming album, The Slow Rush, Kevin Parker spins a tale of piano-centered pop and R&B, allowed his listener to coast on the warmness of sonic wonder.

April + VISTA, "Every Void"

Featuring submerged strings, the D.C.-hailing duo takes its sound to new levels of immersion. The pair's first official video, directed by Taylor Thompson, gives light to night terrors full of fire, prying hands and dilapidated houses.

dvsn, "No Cryin (feat. Future)"

The mayor of Pettyville links with two of OVO's moodiest overseers for a three-minute ballad to post-coital tristesse. It's getting cold out there.

"I'm a man of my word / If I said 'F*** you' then I mean it / I could stop this pressure and go cop a new Kompressor / But I'm deep in VIP, ain't got no time for no lectures," Future fronts.

Xavier Omär and Sango, "Say It"

This woozy Xavier Omär and Sango link-up highlights the nexus of your paranoia, right when you're teetering between buying a gift "just because" or searching their phone when they fall asleep. "Say It" gives you at least two minutes to decide whether or not ignorance is bliss.

Kaash Paige, "Love Songs"

This teenaged streaming phenom from Grand Prairie, Texas, is relating to her generation in the rawest and most natural of fashions. There's nothing guarded and little curable about this love-sickness.

Frank Ocean, "In My Room"

Spooky, slurred and just a touch out of his character, the game-changing recluse rears his head for the second time this year with something of an off-kilter, slo-mo mosh-pit melody.

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