Rhye - ‘Woman’ + Champagne Dream
Ingredients: 1 ounce Pama (pomegranate liqueur), 1 ounce Cointreau, 1 ounce fresh orange juice, 3 ounces champagne or sparkling wine, orange zest for garnish.
Mixing Instructions: Shake Pama, Cointreau and orange juice in a shaker half-filled with ice. Slowly stir in champagne then strain into a flute and garnish with orange zest. (via Dale DeGroff)
Notes: Sex is one of the most poorly covered subjects in modern music. This isn’t to say the territory hasn’t been explored, but “to the windoooowwwws…” and its ilk are the sexual equivalent of a Hungry Man dinner — yes, it is edible-ish and contains calories, but to call it food….that’s just depressing. Thankfully, Mike Milosh and Robin Hannibal, L.A. transplants by way of Copenhagen, have brought an artistic and thoughtfully intimate stroke to a canvas mostly poked at by juvenile finger painters. Bare as the skin on the cover, the sound has been compared to both Sade and The xx. This is mood music that successfully resists fading to the background, it’s just too gripping and honest. Best saved for a quiet evening with the one you love, pop a bottle, mix a delicate cocktail and toast an album that shows how to celebrate intimacy without resorting to cheap vulgarity.