Singer/songwriter Lyrah returns with an beautiful new song called "Head Above" feat. Reo Cragun. If you have been following the blog, you know that I am a big fan of Lyrah's past work and this new song is no exception. With this new release, Lyrah returns to more danceable indie vibes, yet still captures those dreamy and melancholic moments that make her music so special. The track starts slowly and then builds up into a powerful instrumental escalation. Reo Cragun, known for his work with Flume, drops into the second verse with his characteristic sound that really makes for a nice extra twist on this track. For this release I had the pleasure of sitting down with Lyrah virtually and talk about her music, her process and what inspires her as an artist. When I asked her how the track came about, she said:
So, it started here on my piano, which you can see back there. That is my childhood piano, the instrument I played the longest. I was feeling incredibly overwhelmed and I had so many songs that I had to work on and instead of working on those songs i made this one. I was like: I just want to start something at my piano that feels different.
The way Lyrah plays the piano you won't hear like that on the track itself, but it perfectly captures the the mood and overall vibe that is on the finished work, which was produced in tandem by Nick Booth and Lyrah herself. Personally, i also picked up a bit of a cinematic note with "Head Above", something that maybe wasn't so unintended, as I learned that Lyrah likes to pair up her music with clips of Hollywood classics:
Everything that I make, I always sync it up to something. I always have a trailer that I loop to the song as I listen to it. That is also just a thing where it helps me get out of my head. That way I am more focused on the feeling of it, rather than the details of it. You can kinda go down the rabbit hole of sound design, but the most important thing is the feeling. If the feeling isn’t there yet, then let’s dive into it and figure out what it needs. With this one, the video I went with was from this movie “Only God Forgives” with Ryan Gosling. It came out like 10 years ago. So what I’ll do, I’ll find a trailer, I mute it and then I just run the song over it.
As mentioned, the track also features Reo Cragun, an LA based rapper who has worked intensively with Flume, but also other artists such as Chrome Sparks, Evan Giia and Kid Ink - So obviously I had to ask how this collab came to be:
I actually met Reo through the Web3 community, like music NFTs, which I will say, I know it is a very polarizing space, but there are people who are doing cool projects within it that actually bring the listeners into the work and make them feel closer to the music and I have a lot of respect for people who are building in that space. So I met him through that. We had both dropped on this platform called Sound XYZ. I’ve loved Reo’s voice, production, just overall creativity for years. The song I actually came across with him in it, it’s this one called Friends - that song still hits. So, i’ve been listening to Reo for years and it’s been cool to follow along with his music and now to have him be part of one of (mine).
In the process of going over the collaboration efforts with Reo, i had to ask the LA based singer/songwriter, whom she would otherwise see as absolut "dream" collab material for future projects:
Easy, he is blowing up…Fred Again. I have been an obsessed listener for a long time. Another one would be Emmit Fenn. I would absolutely love to work with him on something and because as far as other artists that i compare myself to and the sound - i love that he makes stuff that is stripped back and cinematic and beautiful, but then also stuff that is dancy and a little gritty and dirty. I look at people like him and i am like - i don’t have to stick just on the stripped back singer/songwriter side or the dance side, it can live like a pendulum between things.
"Head Above" came out last Frida and is now available through all the major streaming platforms. It will also be part of her upcoming EP, so what is next for Lyrah, when will this EP drop and what can we expect from her going into 2023?
I got two features that are coming out next and they are both with artists that i love. One is with Model Man. After those two features then I have my last song that bundles up the full EP. As long as the second feature comes out in March, then the plan would be to put out the EP in April. I have so much stuff piling up in my Dropbox that i then have to figure out - is it for me or for other people that I want to pitch to. I think this is going to be my best year yet.
Thanks to Lyrah for taking the time for this interview. Now it is time for you to hit that play button and start out the week to a proper indie dance banger! Enjoy!
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