LATE AGAIN SHARES NEW SINGLE AND VIDEO "KOOLBLOOM" FT. HEAL MURA FROM UPCOMING EP CLEARLY IT'S ALL STAGED PRE-ORDER/SAVE CLEARLY IT'S ALL STAGED HERE |
|
Photo credit: Gabriel Moura New York’s Late Again returns with the stirring and introspective single “Koolbloom” featuring Heal Mura, ahead of his forthcoming independent EP, Clearly It’s All Staged, out September 2nd. The track finds Late Again and his longtime friend and co-producer, Brazilian DJ/producer Heal Mura (Aldo, The Band) at their most vulnerable, contemplating a liminal moment of quiet reckoning after a late night out. Blending wavy synths, Brazilian percussion, and Late Again’s signature atmospheric guitar production, “Koolbloom” weaves a sonic fabric that is as emotionally resonant as it is sonically rich. Accompanying the release is a special live performance video, capturing the track’s lush intimacy and fleeting moments, all while showcasing its intricate production and emotional depth. Speaking on “Koolbloom,” Late Again shares, “Mura has been a central part of Late Again from the beginning. He opened the doors to his studio and helped me mix and produce my first tracks,” and adds, “it's great that we finally got to make this collab, on a song where his musical world and mine intertwine. I think that chemistry is really coming through in the live session.” Late Again is the alter ego of Brazilian-born, Brooklyn-based artist and creative Rafael Melo, a restless multi-hyphenate whose music exists in the space between worlds. Raised in a small beach town on the coast of São Paulo—without ever learning to surf—and later moving to New York in his mid-twenties, Rafael’s work reflects a lifelong sense of in-between. He grew up listening to Shania Twain mixtapes in his dad’s car alongside his best friend’s Brazilian psychedelia vinyls. Sonically, Late Again blends North American indie pop, obscure Brazilian bossa nova, dreamlike film soundscapes, and Japanese ’80s grooves, inspired by the genre-jumping ethos of Gorillaz, the poetic sharpness of Caetano Veloso, the textural experimentation of Ryuichi Sakamoto, and the catchy riffs of contemporary indie pop. Last year, he collaborated with Brazilian jazz legend Arthur Verocai (Tyler, The Creator, BADBADNOTGOOD, Hiatus Kaiyote, Gal Costa) on the song “People Pleasers”. Over the past two years, Late Again has garnered over a million listeners on Spotify while navigating a career that spans award-winning films, creating 9 Kings with a childhood friend (a viral Brazilian video game), and humorous advertising campaigns that entered the Guinness World Records. A testament to his hyperactive mind and multi-faceted creativity, he left a stable advertising career to fully pursue music. All of these experiences feed into the chaotic yet compelling lore of his upcoming EP, Clearly It’s All Staged. Spanning six tracks, it explores themes of rejection and belonging—platonic, romantic, or professional—and the complex process of letting go. Recorded in his bedroom in Greenpoint and co-produced by Heal Mura, it features contributions from Ella Walton, Nathan Dies, and saxophonist Jared Yee. The EP includes the recently released optimistic track “Easy On Myself”, as well as previously released singles “Ick?”, a sharp, cynical take on catching the “ick,” layered with dreamy guitars and soulful bass, and “Sunrise/Sunset”, a reflective track on blurred boundaries and longing for connection after a mushroom trip. Throughout the EP, Late Again seamlessly blends wit with ethereal guitars, groovy beats, haunting melodies, a sax solo, jazz notes, and warm vocal harmonies into music that is both playful and profound. Clearly It’s All Staged represents a subtle departure from 2024’s debut projects, Migraine Fever Dream and Absolutely Almost Sure, which resonated with worldwide fans, garnering over a million streams across DSPs and selling out shows on the East Coast, earning press praise from Billboard, Galore, Ladygunn, Earmilk, and more. For anyone navigating between places, languages, or identities, Late Again offers a space to laugh, cry, and perhaps dance along the way. Clearly It’s All Staged serves as a reminder that the search for connection, both with oneself and others, is a journey worth taking, and that it’s never too late to find a place to belong. WATCH THE LIVE PERFORMANCE OF “KOOLBLOOM” FT. HEAL MURA STREAM “KOOLBLOOM” FT. HEAL MURA https://hypeddit.com/lateagainfthealmura/koolbloom PRE-ORDER/SAVE CLEARLY IT’S ALL STAGED |
No comments:
Post a Comment