Jean Dawson, “Houston”

For the latest taste of his forthcoming Glimmer of God LP (due Oct. 18), Jean Dawson turns up the heat on his flirtations with pop and dance for an atmospheric new joint titled “Houston.” Over a beat that sounds like a distant cousin of the soundscape The Weeknd curated with 2020’s After Hours, Dawson picks up where the Canadian pop icon left off by localizing his balance of life’s most epic highs and lows in an American city with its own lore and mythology. For The Weeknd, that city is normally Los Angeles, but Dawson opts for Houston as he croons, “Ima lose my soul tonight/ Only for the moment right I/ Sink into the lonely night/ Dancing with my own desire higher.” He tempers the song’s synth-pop skeleton with a vocal delivery that exposes the melancholy that courses through his desire to get “higher,” making for a worthy lesson in lyrical and melodic tension.