Nick is a good friend and sometime collaborator of mine. He’s also a fantastic songwriter and a killer singer. “Evaporate” one of my favorite of his songs, off his latest album Ampersand. It’s a great example of how to fuse acoustic instrumentation with electronic elements/effects to achieve a super-contemporary feeling. “Evaporate” is also a great reminder that pop songs don’t have to take the traditional one-vibe-the-whole-way-through approach. Nick uses abrupt and unexpected changes of tonality, texture and instrumentation throughout the song to great effect. There’s a fulfilling moment when the beat first drops at 0:44. And then, at 1:54, the tune takes a surprising and deeply awesome turn—only to finally return to the slinking, stuttering R&B groove that started it all.

Hear Kyle, NYFOS favorite Lauren Worsham, and their band Sky-Pony in our final NYFOS Next concert of the season on May 10 at National Sawdust in Brooklyn.