Why New Tide by Gurley Still Matters to Falsetto-Led Alternative R&B

A 2022 Beyond Series Single Sets Falsetto and Synth Pulses Against a Lost Identity

About a minute into New Tide by Gurley, an understated falsetto gives way to a thick, strings-like layer of synths. Gurley released it on 3 June 2022 as the fourth chapter of the Beyond series. The single sets alternative R&B percussion and synth pulses under a lyric about losing yourself inside a relationship.

Gurley’s New Tide sits in the playlist below, between contemporary R&B and alt R&B picks from this desk. Coverage of the Beyond singles across the network is tracked on the Gurley artist profile. The single came to BlackSounds.News through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news desks. Press play, then read on for the lineage behind it.

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Falsetto Over Synths Shaped Alternative R&B, From Prince to the Wave Behind New Tide by Gurley

The lineage behind New Tide starts with a voice placed high and a backing track kept bare. In 1986, Prince took Kiss to number one in the United States. The record put a falsetto lead over a sparse, drum-machine arrangement. As a result, the record proved that R&B could carry its heat in the upper register. In fact, the space around the voice did as much work as the voice itself.

That idea passed through neo-soul in the 1990s and arrived somewhere new in the early 2010s. In 2011, The Weeknd released the mixtape House of Balloons, built on falsetto, hazy synths and slow, heavy percussion. Within a few years, alternative R&B stood as its own lane. Synth textures had become as central to it as the drums.

New Tide is descended from that line. Its percussion is R&B-inspired and smooth, and its synths pulse rather than sit still. Meanwhile, the falsetto stays understated for most of the opening. Then the arrangement thickens near the one-minute mark, and the track becomes a fuller, more layered piece of art pop.

That blend of alternative pop, art pop and alternative indie R&B makes the single worth returning to four years on. It carries the lineage forward rather than copying it.

The Beyond Series Turned Monthly Singles Into Chapters, and New Tide Is the Fourth

Gurley built Beyond as a story told one single at a time. In the story, the Gooey Mess spits a character out into the Alternate Realm. There, a guide named Grin introduces the character to Bones, the captain of the Transmittere. The series draws on folklore, mythology, psychology and neurobiology, and each monthly release adds to the world.

New Tide carries that story into personal territory. In comments published by Obscure Sound, Gurley described the track as being about “the loss of personal identity within a relationship and the internal conflict that arises from clinging on and convincing oneself that everything is fine.”

Consequently, that tension shapes the arrangement. The calm surface of the vocal sits on top of a restless rhythm. In effect, the sound says what the narrator will not. Obscure Sound’s Mike Mineo singled out the “charismatic synth pulses and falsetto vocals” in a July 2022 review.

In fact, French coverage arrived first. In June 2022, IGGY Magazine introduced the single as alternative dream pop R&B and praised its groove. Later, in February 2024, Gurley released the sixteen-track album Jepara Bruise. It extends the same mix of R&B, electronica and experimental pop.

Janelle Monáe’s Story Cycles and Frank Ocean’s Art Pop R&B Mark the Lineage Around New Tide

Two artists help place New Tide for listeners meeting Gurley for the first time.

Janelle Monáe is the clearest model for the storytelling. From the Metropolis EP in 2007 through The ArchAndroid in 2010 and The Electric Lady in 2013, Monáe told an android saga across separate releases. Each record worked alone, yet each also moved a larger story forward. Similarly, Beyond applies that serial logic at the scale of monthly singles.

Frank Ocean is the reference for the sound. On Blonde in 2016, Ocean pushed R&B toward art pop, with falsetto passages, sparse arrangements and long stretches where the production barely moves. New Tide works in that zone, where an R&B voice meets an arrangement more interested in mood than in hooks.

Taken together, the two mark out the space Gurley occupies: serial storytelling on one side, and art pop R&B production on the other. As a result, New Tide sits where those lines meet.

Who Should Revisit New Tide by Gurley, and Where to Hear the Beyond Series Now

The single suits listeners who keep alternative R&B and art pop in rotation, especially anyone who values falsetto vocals and synth-led arrangements. It also rewards listeners who like a release with a world behind it, since New Tide makes more sense alongside the rest of Beyond.

From the BlackSounds.News curator team: “The calm falsetto on New Tide is doing the lyric’s work. Gurley lets the voice insist that everything is fine while the synths and percussion keep moving underneath, and that gap between surface and rhythm is the song.”

Buy the single on Bandcamp, then hear the 2024 album Jepara Bruise on Spotify and Bandcamp. The official website collects music, video and contact details.

Follow Gurley across platforms: Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, SoundCloud, YouTube channel, Instagram, TikTok, X, Threads, Snapchat and Facebook.

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