Not gonna deny I am biased when it comes to promoting local artists, so I make no excuse for posting Rose Gray’s tribute to our shared home borough in her ethereal techno tune Hackney Wick.

She’s a rising singer, songwriter and DJ who’s already performed at Glastonbury alongside Shygirl and has her own club night called, aptly enough, Rose Presents Gray.

After dabbling in lounge-pop as a jazzed-up Adele on her first release in 2021 – Dancing, Drinking, Talking, Thinking – she now releases her debut album as a house diva, Faster, Please.

Her collaborators range from Justin Tranter (Lady Gaga, Chappel Roan) and Zhone to her underground electronic heroes like Seda Bodega, Uffie and Alex Metric. ​

“Ethereal” is the word that crops up most frequently on reactions to this tune, with its shivery beats and narrative of an evening excursion to go clubbing in Hackney Wick, ending in a drug trip.

Gray says the album title came from her habit of constantly asking for things to be turned up louder (“please”) back from when she was a kid on late-night car journeys with her dad, through to her teens glued to the speakers in clubs.

“To me, Louder, Please captures the rave, the ethereal, my friends and our stories: it’s classic pop with its roots firmly in the underground. On a beach or in a club, I want these songs to find their homes in someone else’s life. So enjoy – but make sure you play it LOUD, please?