Rex Orange County Shares 'Pluto Projector'

The young British singer-songwriter Rex Orange County tweeted out a phone number yesterday, along with the message, "OUT TOMORROW." If you rang, you'd hear Rex's voice, slightly staticky on the other end of the line, singing. Turns out this was a clever preview of "Pluto Projector," the second single from his upcoming album, Pony.

The semi-downtempo acoustic track is a meditation on the existential — Rex sings: "What if all this counts for nothing, everything I thought I'd be / What if by the time I realize, it's too far to see?" At just 21 years old, it makes sense that he's still trying to figure it all out.

The beauty of the song is at the end, when a string ensemble takes center stage. Rex's pitched-down voice (a trick commonly used by a frequent collaborator of his, Tyler, the Creator) drones into the cosmos: "Stay forever, you know more than anyone."

Pony is out 10/25 via Sony.

Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.