Music Crowns, in collaboration with Decent Music PR, is proud to premiere “Higher,” the luminous new single from Memory Spells and Jordan Whitlock. The track marks the first glimpse into their forthcoming collaborative album, This Is What It Feels Like, a project born across cities, stitched together through distance, and bound by a rare creative synchronicity.
“Higher” floats in on a hush of airy synths and minimalist guitar, immediately establishing the duo’s shared sonic language: ethereal dream pop infused with delicate chamber-folk textures. Whitlock’s crystalline vocals glide effortlessly across Memory Spells’ cinematic production, creating a soundscape that feels both intimate and expansive. There’s a quiet ache beneath the song’s glow, a sense of longing that never quite resolves, but instead lingers in the spaces between notes.
The single sets the tone for an album with an origin story as compelling as its sound. Written and produced entirely remotely, This Is What It Feels Like came together with Whitlock based in San Diego and Memory Spells’ Matt Bauer in Los Angeles. The two artists exchanged ideas, demos, and late-night reflections across digital channels, building a cohesive body of work without ever sharing the same room. Remarkably, they didn’t meet in person until more than half the album had already been completed.
That physical distance became part of the album’s emotional architecture. The songs resonate with themes of closeness and separation, of connection forged through absence. There’s a palpable tenderness to the way the music unfolds, as though each track is reaching across an invisible line, searching for something just out of frame.
Across the record, Memory Spells and Whitlock explore the fragile, defining moments within human relationships. The contemplative “Do You Think of It Sometimes?” captures the quiet ache of wondering whether love lingers in someone else’s memory. “All I See Is You” swells with tidal devotion, its emotional intensity cresting and receding like waves against a shoreline. Meanwhile, “Bloom” unfolds with meditative patience, a gentle meditation on growth and surrender.
Sonically, the album blends airy synths, vintage drum machines, haunting string arrangements, and sparse guitar lines. The production never overwhelms; instead, it leaves space for Whitlock’s voice to hover and echo, drawing listeners inward. There’s an organic elegance to the arrangements, cinematic yet restrained, that evokes oceans at dusk, overgrown gardens, and those elusive “thin places” where the veil between distance and closeness seems to dissolve.
This Is What It Feels Like ultimately tells a story that extends beyond romance or longing. It chronicles the journey of two artists discovering a shared voice, building trust through collaboration, and watching that creative partnership transform into something deeper. The album captures that rare moment when art ceases to be just a project and becomes a connection, one that shifts perspective, reshapes understanding, and quietly changes you.
With “Higher,” Memory Spells and Jordan Whitlock offer a tender introduction to that journey. It’s a song that shimmers with vulnerability and resolve, inviting listeners to lean into its atmosphere and stay there awhile. If this first taste is any indication, This Is What It Feels Like promises to be a deeply immersive and emotionally resonant debut collaboration, one born of distance, but defined by closeness.
“This project began as an exchange of demos and became a deeply personal dialogue. Here’s a sense of longing and possibility in every track, songs about connection, vulnerability, and hope,” says Jordan Whitlock.
