B-Side Guys

Chris Bartels isn’t trying to hide his influences anymore. After years of wrestling with what Bora York “should” sound like, he’s embraced the obvious: this Minneapolis duo makes their best music when they stop overthinking and lean into pure sensation. “Glow Hover” radiates with that rediscovered freedom, a track that wears its chillwave DNA proudly while never feeling like pastiche.

The song’s architecture mirrors its lyrical obsession with suspended moments. Those “quirky vocal effects” Chris mentions aren’t just production flourishes—they create the sonic equivalent of hovering, voices that drift in and out of focus like memories half-formed. When he sings “Eyes shut, it’s a glow hover,” the processing makes his voice feel genuinely weightless, matching the emotional territory he’s exploring.

Rebekah’s chorus hook provides the gravitational center this weightlessness needs. Her voice cuts through the atmospheric haze with surprising clarity, grounding Chris’s stream-of-consciousness wandering in something genuinely catchy. The contrast works because it mirrors real experience—how moments of transcendence often require mundane anchors to feel meaningful.

The lyrics capture something essential about contemporary drift culture. “Long drives without asking why” feels like a mission statement for an entire generation raised on endless playlists and algorithmic discovery. There’s profound acceptance in “Time will tell us, never mind”—not resignation but genuine peace with uncertainty. The repetitive chorus sections don’t feel excessive; they feel meditative, like mantras for the overwhelmed.

What makes this fourth album era compelling is Bartels’s willingness to embrace accident over intention. After burning out on trying to make Bora York his “main project,” he’s returned to the experimental spirit that made their 2013 debut feel vital. “Glow Hover” succeeds precisely because it doesn’t try to prove anything beyond its own beautiful existence. Sometimes artistic maturity means accepting that your school project instincts were right all along.