When our Google Meet video chat first connects, one of us is momentarily missing. “Let me give Katrín a call. She’s been so busy editing our new video,” explains Kari. We’d been working on making this conversation happen for some time, dating as far back as the release of debut album Visions of Ultraflex in 2020 when our initial plans for an interview were complicated by a worldwide pandemic. Almost exactly two years later—and after a sickness and a work emergency required us to reschedule a couple of times—we finally manage to make our lives align, despite being in three different countries in three different time zones.

Kari: I am feeling better, yes. Thank you. It was a little stomach bug. I have a son in Kindergarten, and so I’m learning about all the germs.

For the uninitiated, Ultraflex is the divine collaboration between Farao (Kari Jahnsen) and Special-K (Katrín Helga Andrésdóttir), musicians from Norway and Iceland, respectively, with their own individual projects, who found themselves both living in Berlin with mutual “musical crushes” on each other. We’ve written a number of times about them—about their sparkling 80s dance-pop gems, the friendship so apparent in their work, and the self-aware flamboyance of their music videos. But today there are no outrageous outfits, no aerobic choreography, no puzzling persona. Instead, Katrín is curled up in a comfortable chair at her home in Reykjavik, and Kari takes a break from parenting in Berlin, both of them gracious and genuine as we ask to hear more about how these solo artists teamed up to become a duo.

HighClouds: At this point in your career, I particularly enjoy revisiting the “Olympic Sweat” video. It’s like a literal representation of you two joining forces and becoming this new thing: Ultraflex. I’d love to hear more about how you first ended up working together. How did that opportunity come about? Also, at some point I read that the two of you met by being matched on Tinder—I imagine there’s no truth in that?

Kari (with a sly smile): No, we may have made up a couple stories.

Katrín: Extreme Chill [an annual experimental music festival in Reykjavik] contacted me because they wanted to commission a musical collaboration between an Icelandic artist and a Norwegian artist. When they asked me to participate, I said I would but only if I could choose the Norwegian artist. They agreed, and so I asked Kari to join.

Kari: Originally we made just one piece. But it was a lot of fun, so we kept going.

HighClouds: What kind of piece did you create for the festival?

Katrín: It was a raw version of what would become the Visions of Ultraflex album. We wrote it in nine days, but then we ended up fleshing it out at Kari‘s studio in Berlin.

Ultraflex by Jae Tyler

Ultraflex first landed on the HighClouds radar back in May 2020 with the release of their origin-story video to “Olympic Sweat,” a dreamy disco instrumental, save for one brief moment in the back-half where Kari and Katrin‘s heavily processed voices simultaneously announce, “Ultraflex.” Since then, that vocal snippet has become a recognizable “producer tag” of sorts, appearing throughout their expertly curated mixes for foundation.fm, NBHAP, and Refuge Worldwide, all of which are revelatory and should be listened to as soon as possible. The past couple years have also seen the band win the Icelandic Music Award for Best Electronic Album as well as the Kraumur Award for Best Album. Now they’re back with follow-up album Infinite Wellness—eight new tracks of shimmery, atmospheric, electro-disco-pop, overflowing with synth hooks, dance beats, and breathy vocals.

Kari: Second albums are very difficult. Now people expect something from you.

It’s an easily understandable concern; critics have written for years about the dreaded “sophomore slump.” The thought even prompted Kari and Katrín to work with a band therapist/coach who had them write out an actual manifesto, ultimately reminding themselves, “We’re doing this because it’s fun.” And it must have helped: the fun these two undoubtedly have working on this project together is on full display throughout Infinite Wellness. Everything we love about their debut remains intact here—from the phat, arpeggiating bass patches to their self-proclaimed “club rap” vocals that manage to be simultaneously soothing, suggestive, and sometimes a little silly.

Earlier this year we published write-ups of two tracks from the new album, “Baby” and “Mi Vuoi,” both of which are absolute jams that update the sonic blueprint laid out in Visions. But what really deserves some extra love right now is the final Infinite Wellness single and unexpected highlight, “Melting Away,” one of the more perfect distillations of the Ultraflex brand. Imbuing mildly naughty (but also honest and vulnerable) lyrics with lovely R&B melodies, K&K‘s vocals sit atop an elegant arrangement that tones down the exuberant bass stabs of other tracks, and instead places the focus on the gorgeous synth-chime top line, delicate keyboards, and enough echoey whispers and breaths, they’re practically instruments themselves. Add to that some Spanish-guitar flourishes, marimba-esque padding, and even what sounds like a shakuhachi flute sample (!), and you’ve got a sensual slow jam that alludes to certain 80s and 90s production accents found in hits by Madonna, Enigma, and Enrique Iglesias. Synthesized and processed through Ultraflex‘s particular aesthetic lens, however, the end result transcends pastiche; it’s the emotional climax of the album.

There’s no mistaking the meaning of these lyrics, which bluntly describe the private-yet-universal thoughts of someone feeling sexual hunger for another:

“You can try, but you can’t hide desire / There’s a heatwave between my thighs / You know that I think about you late at night / Fascination and arousal”

However, for all the “dirty talk,” this is also a song about falling for that person hard. Perhaps it’s the angelic harmonies, the way their vocal quality balances sensuality with a sense of innocence, or the awkwardness of admissions like, “You take my hand, I become butter,” but you don’t feel this way about just anyone you’re attracted to. The yearning here is just as much about partnership and true intimacy as it is about sex. With “Melting Away,” Ultraflex has created a mini-masterpiece that locates the exact line separating love and lust and indulges in that feeling.

The music K&K make as Ultraflex is, for the most part, quite a departure from their individual Farao and Special-K solo ventures. They collaborate on every aspect of the band, with each claiming their own specific areas of expertise—while Katrín focuses on lyrics, riffs, and the visual component, Kari handles the beats, synthesizers, and bass programming. And by sharing these responsibilities with someone so aesthetically connected with the other, it makes all the work of completing an entire album—and producing music videos to accompany fully three-quarters of it—a much more pleasurable and fulfilling experience.

Katrín: I played some of our songs for my boyfriend, and he described it as “shiny and dirty at the same time.” And I feel like that makes a lot of sense, actually. I can make a dirty song, but I can’t make it shiny.

Kari: And I’m the opposite, so it works very well. We’ve learned a lot from each other.

Of course, it’s always been difficult to separate Ultraflex‘s music from the visual element—to the point where it almost feels more appropriate to refer to them as an audiovisual project rather than a band. Make no mistake: their songs still work as pop singles, and their albums still function as organized collections of them. But where Ultraflex really makes a statement—eliciting a surprising range of different, sometimes-conflicting feelings—is when the entire enterprise is considered as a whole. (See the video to Infinite Wellness lead-off track, “Relax,” which felt uncomfortable the first time, hilarious the second, but most certainly never relaxing.) This especially makes sense upon learning that Katrín, an avant-garde visual artist in her own right, wrote her university thesis on the importance of image in popular music. And this sentiment—the notion that music, lyric, and visuals play equally vital roles in the art form of pop—absolutely shows in their work. Please: Block out a half-hour in your schedule and check out their absolutely essential CTM Festival performance from January 2021, which is so well- conceived, staged, and executed, it plays much more like a concert film than a livestream.

If the “Olympic Sweat” video is a manifestation of two artists’ worlds converging (two becoming one), then the CTM performance is the immediate result of what was born from that artistic merger (two as one). Right from the jump, this concept is literalized by way of a visual motif used throughout the concert. For the first two minutes, Kari and Katrín lean back in their matching papasan chairs—surrounded by a lush array of houseplants, cocktail in hand—slowly crossing and uncrossing their legs, repeatedly and completely in-sync. In another portion of the show the two engage in an aerobics routine and other synchronized, exercise-inspired movement. And elsewhere still, they play a tranquil top line together on the same keyboard—their hands an octave apart—gracefully extending their arms outward in unison as the synth-chimes reverberate and fade.

It’s a distinctive, idiosyncratic, and oddly satisfying take on choreography—partially inspired by the same 80s Soviet aerobics videos projected onto the screen behind them—and we occasionally see variations on this theme in their music videos as well: Kari and Katrín sensually swinging a single squash racquet together as one body in “Full of Lust,” or completing one-person house-cleaning chores as a two-person unit in “Mi Vuoi.” The imagery is striking and somewhat hypnotic, but also deceptively playful. Although their Ultraflex appearance can often come across as stoic or inscrutable—the duo staring directly at us with a piercing gaze that manages to suggest something between apathy and desire—it’s not too difficult to imagine the two of them cracking up the moment the camera cuts. Specific shots offer fleeting glimpses into what it might be like on set, like the moment toward the end of Infinite Wellness club banger “Rhodos,” K&K silly-dancing outside at night, when Kari suddenly bends over in uncontrollable laughter.

HighClouds: It seems like making Ultraflex music videos doubles as a great excuse for packing a picnic, hitting the thrift store, and spending the day hanging out with friends—whether that involves swimming in a lake, sightseeing and clubbing in Cairo, or hiking coastal hillsides.

Kari: Yes, exactly. We are both crazy hard-working and always super busy. Not like a group project in school where someone ends up doing a majority of the work. But we also like to have fun with creating this world. And incorporating our influences and things we enjoy into that world.

Katrín: Like that Celine Dion song you like.

Kari: Right. There’s this Celine Dion video [“Think Twice” from her 1994 album The Colour of My Love] that has a man in overalls working on an ice sculpture. I love it, and so in our new video we’re going to have a man in overalls working on an ice sculpture, too. We copy things we like, but it’s always filtered through our aesthetic sensibility. Most “original” ideas come about that way.

Katrín: We also like to collaborate with friends whose art we appreciate. Okay Kaya [a Norwegian-American musician from Oslo], for example, has directed a couple of our videos.

This love of collaboration was something we especially noticed upon the release of the fifth Infinite Wellness single, “Under the Spell,” which arguably acts as a kind of companion piece or sequel to “Never Forget My Baby” from Visions. Both videos feature and were directed by regular collaborator (Icelandic musician and visual artist) Jóhanna Rakel. The newer song begins, “Sometimes when I’m in my room, I put on a tune and dance by myself,” which, notably, is precisely what Jóhanna‘s character does throughout the older video. However, whereas dancing it out, here, represents a distraction from longing—a way to cope with the tedious ache that forbids forgetting—in “Under the Spell” dancing has now become an empowering tool to help the singer-narrator do just that:

“Sick of feeling tender / Can’t even remember you / All the things you said begin fading when I move / I forget about you”

Ultraflex proves music and dancing to be the versatile, healing balms they are.

By this point I’ve taken up enough of their time, and although I’m very aware that Katrín has a video to continue editing, and that Kari has a kid to put to bed before heading out to a show, they generously stay a bit longer to chat about some of their all-time favorite musical influences:

Kari: For me, it is this Estonian funk legend, Uku Kuut.

Katrín: Yes, Kari has introduced his music to me, he’s great. And I absolutely love Jarvis Cocker from Pulp.

Kari: And there’s always Britney.

Katrín: There’s always Britney… Cher. Janet [Jackson].

Kari: Oh, and our friends Easter. They’re a German-Norwegian duo, and they’re really great.

Katrín wants to know what I hear in their music, so I mention that moments of their “club rap” vocal style sometimes remind me of Neil Tennant from Pet Shop Boys (minus the eroticism), particularly his delivery in 1988’s “Left To My Own Devices.” It’s not quite singing, but it’s more than talking, and his melodic elongations of certain words (“phone up a friend who’s a paaarrty animal”) call to mind hooky moments like “mascaaarra down your cheeks, Bicaaardi in your drinks” from “Rhodos.” They were unfamiliar with the song, and so before saying goodbye, I promise to send them a link.

The Ultraflex project is endlessly fascinating and a world worth getting immersed in—there’s so much to discover in their music, their aesthetic sensibility, and their fandom of other music that, just when you think you’ve got them figured out, you realize that you don’t. Upon revisiting that PSB video myself, I was freshly reminded of the fact that it, too, features some (very different but no less awesome) exercise-inspired choreography, something I now appreciate within an entirely different context. Later that evening, I was enjoying my introduction to the sick 80s synth-boogie of an Estonian funk legend when I realized the album title Visions of Ultraflex must be a loving homage to Uku Kuut‘s collection of home recordings, Vision of Estonia. I couldn’t help thinking that this is what the pop music journey is all about—being influenced by something you love, sharing those influences with others, and perhaps using them to create something new, be it a song, an image, an emotion, or a combination of all three. And if you get the opportunity do that with a close, creatively like-minded partner and regular, admired collaborators… Well, that’s a rare and really beautiful thing. Some folks might even consider that a path to infinite wellness.

Infinite Wellness is out now on Kari‘s own Street Pulse Records. Grab a super-limited physical copy via Bandcamp below before it sells out.

Flip on a televised news broadcast, read the newspaper headlines—it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll be assaulted with a non-stop parade of bad. At least that’s what it has felt like in recent memory, and it’s taking its toll on everyone. And while it is fully understandable, warranted, and expected for musical artists to release albums of songs written to help us process and make sense of our current sociopolitical conditions, kudos must also go to those who seek to give us a temporary respite from the mental-exhaustion that is our modern everyday existence. We’ve seen this very recently, for example, with Lizzo‘s disco-funk affirmation Special and Beyoncé‘s tour-de-dance Renaissance, two very different albums that may make some important statements about “life” and “the world,” but are perhaps more concerned with just giving people a damn good time.

That was certainly the goal for Marci, the self-titled solo debut from keyboardist Marta Cikojevic of Montreal’s TOPS, an album that sits confidently among our very favorites of the year. To quote Cikojevic from the release announcement, “I wanted to make people happy. I wanted to make people feel like they could dance even when there was negativity.” It’s a great reminder, especially at a time when it’s so easy to get bogged down by despair, but also: she was not kidding. As Marci, Cikojevic has put together a superb collection of irresistible, catchy, and just-plain-fun pop tunes that make you want to let go and move. No, you probably won’t be dripping sweat to it in a club, but this is most definitely a vibe that encourages you to take up just a little more of your surrounding space—even its mellowest moments consist of the kind of slow jam that makes it difficult not to close your eyes and sway (see Carly Rae Jepsen‘s “All That”).

Produced in close collaboration with TOPS guitarist David Carriere, Marci certainly shares some similarities with the sophisto-pop of their full-time project, but here the influences are broader and more varied (more on this below). Jazzy guitar chords and smooth, glossy synths provide the soft-rock foundation, but Cikojevic and Carriere also incorporate r&b, funk, and disco elements into their vision. Part of the fun, for lack of a better phrase, is in hearing what you hear—that opening riff sounds like Aja-era Steely Dan, that groove feels like Thriller-era Michael Jackson. But make no mistake: rather than mere pastiche or patchwork, Marci is a successful synthesis of many decades and genres, well-studied and well-loved.

In the leadup to the album release date (today!), we got the chance to chat with Cikojevic via email where we discussed songwriting, collaboration, and influence (and where I briefly fixate over her obsession-worthy vocal stylings in the track “Terminal”). Check out our conversation below (lightly edited for flow and readability), and afterward, flip on this album, kick it up a little louder than usual, grab yourself a martini, and be happy. ?

Marci by Samuel Houston

HighClouds: Hi Marta! Many thanks for chatting with us. You have crafted an incredibly fun album full of classic, timeless pop. Who were some of your biggest musical influences when making this album?

Marta Cikojevic: It’s always hard to answer this question because there is so much, so I’ll pick three songs: Brandy – “Full Moon,” Rodney Crowell – “Ain’t No Money,” and The S.O.S. Band – “Just Be Good to Me.”

I had never listened to Rodney Crowell before—wow, what a great tune. Reminds me of the poppier side of Tusk-era Fleetwood Mac, which is certainly a vibe I can detect in your album (had they embraced late-70s funk). I also hear moments of Michael Jackson on occasion, sometimes in a melody and other times in the vocal harmonies.

Thank you!! That’s a great compliment. And yes, Rodney is a great writer. He wrote a lot of songs for different artists. There are some other really good songs on that record too: “Oh What a Feeling,” “Ashes By Now,” and “Queen of Hearts”.

I’ll check those out right away. How would you describe your style or your album to someone who hasn’t heard it?

I’d say it’s feminine, smooth, and peppy. A sexy candle-lit dinner with your friends, you’re wearing that new diamond choker you bought, and you’re on your 3rd martini…

Well, now I know how I’m going to spend the evening when the LP arrives, haha. Were you writing songs with that vision/feeling/goal in mind, or did that come later in the arranging/producing process? Did you do much experimenting with taking certain songs in “different” directions?

Haha, excellent. ?

I definitely had that feeling in mind! Yes, we experimented with a couple of songs, but the one that changed the most was “Deeper Shade of Blue.” It was originally more of a ballad, and we turned it into something more upbeat.

The press release mentioned that you’ve never formally written songs before. Could you tell me a bit about your songwriting process and your collaborative partnership with David Carriere?

I always write on keys, and I find I start with the chorus of a song and build around it. I record everything at every step of the way and piece it together, listen back and then play again, keeping in mind the vocal melodies popping in and out. And then hopefully there is a demo there that I can show David, haha. David is my favourite, I love working with him. The project started after I sent him some of my demos—he called me up and said, “Come to Montreal and make a record with me.” So I packed up and moved! Some of the funnest times I’ve had was making this record. David is an extremely talented songwriter and knows exactly how to make things sound good. Writing with him is very fun and easy, and I can’t wait to make more with him.

That sounds like a lovely creative partnership. What’s the first thing you discuss after showing David a demo?

Usually we discuss what parts of it are good and what parts could be better. Also, how we want to record it in regards to what mood we want to give off; which instruments will carry the track.

What surprised you the most in the process of writing and producing your own songs? What did you learn about yourself?

My voice! I was scared to use it and didn’t know what I could do with it! I’m excited to keep learning more about it and exercising it.

Your voice is like a dream! I find that there are little vocal moments throughout that I really look forward to hearing upon repeat listening. Just to cite a few examples from “Terminal” alone—the r&b trill on “I gotta moooooove” followed by the sighing breathiness of “into the grooooove,” the harmonies at the end of the chorus “makes me feeeel sweeeet,” the emotion of “there’s no way to choose, yeah!” and that quick descending run of “and let me burn on do-o-own.” Do you tend to parse your songs and look for different ways of using your voice, or do those moments happen more organically as you’re writing and/or rehearsing?

Thank you so much!!! Yes I definitely try to match my voice to the song. But it usually comes organically during the writing process. There are some new Marci songs (currently being recorded) where I am pushing myself in a new way/style that I have to work a little harder for… Heh it’s fun.

Oh good, I’m very glad there are more Marci songs to look forward to. What were the biggest challenges you faced putting your debut together?

Settling on a track listing was hard, haha.

Hard because you weren’t sure how to order the songs, or because you had more songs to choose from?

They all stood on their own, so it was difficult to arrange them so they blend into each other and tell a story. But I think we did a good job.

Absolutely. What do you love about making music?

I love that it inspires me to learn and evolve. It’s also very cathartic.

Marta, congratulations on a wonderful debut and thanks again for taking the time to e-chat! Hope to see you perform live one of these days. 🙂

Thank you so much!! It was lovely to chat. And I hope to see you at a show one day too. 🙂

For previous generations, it was much more common to meet a core group of kids in grade school who would become your closest friends, and remain so into adulthood. These days, however, it’s just as likely to “lose touch” with your once-best friends as it is to make new ones well after one’s formative years. For better or worse, people come and go throughout our lives, and some days you might even find yourself wondering how a work colleague understands you so much better than one of your bridesmaids.

In the case of Ultraflex, the collaborative project of Farao (Kari Jahnsen) and Special-K (Katrín Helga Andrésdóttir), the duo came together relatively recently in their lives, after each artist was already well-established. And it’s proven to be a special kind of collaboration that one hopes will continue to deepen and develop as it’s done for the past couple of years. If you’re a regular HighClouds reader, you’ve undoubtedly seen the name Ultraflex pop up a number of times—each new single being a cause for celebration—and their latest release “Baby” is one of their best yet.

Similar to other jams “Olympic Sweat” and “Never Forget My Baby” from the debut Visions of Ultraflex album, new single “Baby” plays like a dancefloor dream with its trademark breathy vocals, crisp, high-register bass, and symphony of arpeggiated synths. But more so than anything on Visions, which filtered icy electro-pop through a Soviet-disco lens, it’s a bit easier here to detect some of their more direct 80s influences: the sparkly, melodic chimes that open the track are straight out of New Order‘s instantly classic “Round & Round,” while the unexpected chord change at the 3-minute mark calls to mind the moodier songwriting of early Pet Shop Boys. Even lyrically, there’s a passage of such flirtatious confidence that’s reminiscent of “gonna use my sidestep” Chrissie Hynde:

“I see you across the room / And you’re not looking at me? / I’m gonna fix that / I’m gonna sneak into your / peripheral vision / And you’re gonna notice me / When I dance”

Of course, Ultrafex‘s come-on is imbued with humor—the singer’s incredulousness that the subject hasn’t yet noticed her, followed by her plan to inch into their sightline. The track’s charming accompanying video could have easily leaned into this humor, as the duo has done with previous visuals that tend toward being simultaneously serious yet absurd, sexy yet gauche. But instead, the video for “Baby” consists primarily of footage of Kari and Katrín just hanging out together: dancing at a party, walking around Cairo, posing in front of pyramids, and of course, performing onstage. This completely makes sense here, especially when considering Ultraflex‘s take on the tune:

“Although the song is about romantic endeavours, we realized afterwards that it is also about our artistic collaboration. It emphasizes the importance of taking risks and indicates that whatever happens tomorrow, we’ve got each other right now, and that’s what counts—the power of the moment is worth whatever the future brings, whether it’s happy-ever-after or heartbreak.”

Which brings us back to the friendship between Kari and Katrín, and their partnership that is the Ultraflex project. When you look back at their work over the past couple years, one thing becomes abundantly clear: these two just get each other. They seem to be so in-sync—both musically and aesthetically—it’s hard to imagine any other pair producing the music and videos that Ultraflex does. It’s a rare thing to find that kind of connection; we should all be so lucky.

The past two years have probably been the most surreal of our lives. Between a pandemic ravaging the world and Trumpism pushing humanity’s ugliest tendencies to the mainstream, it’s easy to understand one’s desire to get lost in escapist fantasy—whether that involves the latest installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe or simply dreaming about the future. For Alyssa Gengos, this escapism provided some comfort until she realized she was “losing touch with reality.” And from this awareness was born her newest jam, the aptly titled “In the Real World.”

Opening with the straightforward, uncomplicated arrangement of a basic drum beat, programmed yet melodic bass, cheap Casio chords, and Gengos‘s sweetly naive voice, “In the Real World” turns its “bedroom pop” descriptor up to eleven, and in the best way. This continues for the next couple of minutes, allowing the listener to focus on the catchy melody and dreamy delivery of the vocals: “Let’s start by saying it’s all right with me, Go ahead and cry, baby, when I speak. Keep it alive, I just want to feel alive.”

The back half of the song, however, goes to some unexpected places, including a moment where all instrumentation cuts out save for a pulsing synth tone, slowing down until two snare hits announce that it’s time to return to the tune. Later, the Los Angeles-based artist layers her vocals into angelic harmony as the repeated refrain of “You might as well live” provides not just the perfect outro but a thematic directive as well:

“‘In the Real World’ expresses my desire to be honest to myself about what’s worth my time and energy, and to put that into practice,” Alyssa Gengos explained. “That doesn’t only mean searching for the highs of life, though—accepting the harshness of reality is just as important. When I wrote this song, I was starting a new phase in my life, and I knew there was an opportunity to really dissect my childish, selfish mistakes from the previous phase. To me, a large part of maturity is learning how to deal with life’s consequences. ‘In the Real World’ is a plea to myself to be more honest, intentional, and self-aware, and to grow up while still holding onto that inner child.”

It’s the fourth track to be released from Alyssa Gengos‘s debut full-length Mechanical Sweetness — a title befitting of her overall sound—and they’ve all been winners, with each one allowing her the vulnerability to explore and reveal her true self. The musical influences are wide-ranging, from new wave to girl groups, from indie rock to radio pop. Like much bedroom pop, the album was created in solitude and promises to provide some comfort in our own as we continue to wait out this seemingly never-ending pandemic. Just see how good it feels to be “In the Real World.” We might as well live, right?

One of the perks of writing for a music blog is getting to hear new singles from up-and-coming bands earlier than their scheduled release dates. Often it’s a group we’ve been tracking and promoting for a while such as HighClouds favorites Magdalena Bay, Sedona, Men I Trust, and Erika de Casier (#stans). But sometimes we come across a brand-new band with no existing output and about which very little is known. Today we have a prime example of this latter scenario with the release of Kone Mara‘s immediately enjoyable debut single, “The Ordinary Place.”

The Swedish trio apparently met by chance at a breakfast table, bonding over their love of early morning hours and developing a friendship by sharing “coffee, poems, dreams, and wishes” with one another. And you can kind of hear it in the music itself. For the first two-and-a-half minutes, “The Ordinary Place” remains firmly in bedroom-pop territory, confidently employing “on brand” musical elements—synth padding, reverby guitar, melodic bass lines, and dreamy vocals—to build a nostalgia-inducing tune that worms its way into your head with elegance and ease. The result is a familiar, lovely sound existing somewhere between the catchy indie-pop of Beauty Queen and the mysterious drama of Pure Bathing Culture.

What’s truly unexpected, however, is the full-on tonal shift that occurs right around 2:35. As the song cuts out, the synthesizers become darker, nearly sinister, almost like an alternate take on the Stranger Things theme. And when the song “returns” about 15 seconds later, everything about the arrangement feels a bit more raw, somewhat psychedelic even, with fuzzed-out bass and processed drums that wouldn’t feel particularly out of place on a Tame Impala album. It’s a song that’s perfect for that moment between dusk and dawn when you can’t decide whether to go to bed or just start the new day. And if the autumnal textures feel a touch disconnected from these early summer days, it will still be greatly appreciated by the folks who are already over the heat and in search of some cooler, breezier climes.

According to the band:

“‘The Ordinary Place’ is a song about feeling homesick. About traveling and searching for oneself and one’s home anywhere and everywhere, only to realize that it’s been there all along.”

Kone Mara‘s vocalist might be searching for that “ordinary place,” but it’s an extraordinary song she’s singing, and it just might make you feel homesick for an ordinary place as well. Here’s hoping that 2021 will bring more releases from the new Swedish band. In the meantime, check out their debut below, knowing that you were there from the very beginning.

There’s a strange feeling of change in the air. Kids are heading back to their classrooms, vaccines are being rolled out, and the sun is spending more time in the sky. People are making plans again—to see family, to move, to change careers. Spring is officially here; the best part before the weather threatens to careen headfirst into the sweltering summer. And if ever there were a song meant for this exact moment, it’s Sedona‘s latest single, the superb “Drifting Days”.

We’ve been crushing on Brooklyn-based Sedona for a minute now, but our interview celebrating the release of her dreamy Rearview Angel EP last fall pushed us over into superfan territory. Seemingly never resting, Sedona returned in February with the psych-disco-lite of “Cupid’s Victim”, and again last month with “Drifting Days”, both tracks adding to the mounting evidence that every new Sedona release is something to celebrate. So today we urge you to check out that latter track’s new Gabi Rudin-directed music video, which premiered a couple weeks ago but continues to earworm its way into our ongoing journey through today’s massive indie popscape.

And with good reason: “Drifting Days” is prime Sedona, unwilling to sound like anything other than herself, and yet refusing to simply offer more of the same. It’s understated, catchy-as-hell, expertly arranged, and perfectly performed—everything Sedona does best. This newest 80s-infused bedroom-bop starts small with a couple keyboards, a simple drum machine, and Sedona‘s signature, subtly expressive vocals shifting emotion almost as often as her visual persona (e.g., the desperation of “Even when it’s getting late,” the bratty flirtatiousness of the harmonized “She’s got you in her pocket,” the slight pout of “To show me where my heart was bruised”). The band continues to build the song with a symphony of swirling synths, endless hooks, and precisely placed moments of ear candy—it’s nearly impossible to curb the euphoria that comes with that brief, melodic bass hook that hits 45 seconds in, or those staccato bass chirps at 1:40.

The video provides a lovely visual accompaniment, alternating between presenting Sedona as a) a Rosie the Riveter type seducing the camera, b) an 80s rocker dancing with her band, and c) a girl-next-door biking through the woods. Slow-motion video footage matches the song’s nostalgic dream-state, especially images of an undulating parachute and bicycle handlebar ribbons flowing in the breeze. Specifically, check out the 30-second head-in-the-clouds breakdown at 2:36 with reverbed vocals floating upon a sparkling bed of layered instruments—it would be perfectly acceptable if this section soundtracked our entrance into the pearly gates of heaven.

Speaking about the new single, Sedona muses:

“They say life happens while you’re busy making other plans, and that certainly rings true to how the world has felt this past year. The pandemic put a pause on everyone’s plans in ways many weren’t prepared to face. ‘Drifting Days’ is a song that aims to soothe listeners into accepting things out of their control, standing tall in the face of adversity, and learning how to make the most of moments even when they don’t turn out how we expect them to.”

It’s the perfect song for right now, to describe the intangible, often-conflicting feelings we continue to experience, and to help guide us as we begin to anticipate and ultimately navigate the next few months. Hopefully these upcoming months will give us more Sedona music to celebrate, songs that will undoubtedly show her to be one of today’s most gifted songwriters, interpreted by one of today’s most exciting bands.

If you are a regular reader of HighClouds, then you know that there are some favourites we keep writing about whenever they release something new. One of those artists is LA-born, Brooklyn-based Sedona. About a week and a half ago, we spent several hundred words gushing over one song in particular— “Best In Show” — from the band’s brand new debut EP. And then we got the opportunity to gush about it, and the rest of the EP, directly to Rachel Stewart‘s face. Well, over Zoom, at least.

While Rearview Angel might be a bit of a departure from the sugary pop of previous singles like “More Love” and “Closer,” it is still prime Sedona. There is so much to love about her ever-evolving songwriting, lovely vocals, elegant arrangements, and quirky video accompaniments, and in conversation she is open, honest, delightful, and generous. Check out our interview below where we discuss the new EP, perfecting pancakes, and the idea of your own rearview angel.

HighClouds: Hi Sedona!

Sedona: You’re wearing a Carly Rae Jepsen hat!

HighClouds: I am wearing a Carly Rae Jepsen hat. I am a big Carly Rae Jepsen fan.

Sedona: I love Carly!

HighClouds: First and foremost, I just want to ask how are you doing? We’re living through such a bonkers time right now. You’re healthy, you’re safe, you’re sane?

Sedona: Like everyone, I’ve had some ups and downs this year. But I think that this year, as much as it’s been a trip to hell, it’s also allowed me to journey into places creatively that I might not have gone before. Just from being forced to stay inside. I’m a very social person, so mentally it’s been really hard for me. I thrive off my friendships and my relationships. I love playing live shows. And it’s been so hard not to do any of that! But with that said, I’ve been writing a ton of songs, and taking this time to organize demos, and work through concepts that I’ve had but haven’t fully fleshed out. So, I would say that I’ve used this time productively. Almost too productively.

HighClouds: I have the exact opposite problem. It’s very clear from your work that you’re a social, collaborative person. How are you maintaining that during these times where we’re having to keep a separation?

Sedona: Well, Tia [Cestaro] the drummer lives downstairs. Claire [Gilb] the guitarist and Margaux [Bouchegnies] the bassist are like a ten-minute walk. Merilyn [Chang] the keyboard player lives a bike ride away. And so we’ve all made a quarantine pod in the last month. The past six months we were all pretty much apart except for me and Margaux. We wrote some new songs, and now that we’re all back together we’ve been working on a full-length.

HighClouds: [Excited fist pump] Let’s talk about the name of your project. I know Sedona is a city in Arizona, and it also functions as your stage name. How did you decide on that?

Sedona: Sedona is the only place I’ve been with both my parents. They got divorced when I was very little, so it’s the only moment of them both together that I remember. It’s also, more importantly, my earliest memory as a human. When I was like 2 or 3, I was in Sedona with my parents, and I watched a horse slip on a rock, crossing this little stream. And I remember feeling scared and now in hindsight, I was probably just starting to realize, “Whoa, what the hell? I’m a little creature who feels emotions!” I don’t know why that memory always stuck out. But when I was thinking about a project name, I knew I wanted it to serve as my alter-ego, but also something that’s very true to me and my human experience. So I thought, “What better than Sedona?”

Sedona is also a place that people say is very healing, the energy there. People go there for healing retreats, for all sorts of stuff. So I thought, music is something that I find—the process of writing and performing—to be healing to me. And if it’s healing to me to write music, maybe it’ll be healing for people to listen to my music, or at least provide some sort of temporary distance from whatever they’re going through. You can listen to a song and suddenly your day’s a little bit better… Or worse. Whatever you need for that day.

HighClouds: True.

Sedona: I’m making pancakes for the first time, and I have rehearsal in 20 minutes. I have a question, cause you’re a dad: Should I make the pancakes on this flat thing? Will it work?

HighClouds: Absolutely. It’ll probably be easier to scoop and flip over with the spatula.

Sedona: You think it’ll be easier?

HighClouds: I do. Let’s talk a bit more about how the Sedona persona is an alter-ego for you. I feel like it really comes through in your videos. You do so much cool costuming work, creating what appear to be different people. And it feels like you put a lot into that.

Sedona: Can you hear me when I talk over here near the stove? I definitely wanted Sedona to be a place where I could go to escape. I am really into writing creative non-fiction, and I try to incorporate that in my videos. I try to create these kooky caricatures of myself. If you were to find a streamline through all my characters, I feel they all connect in a very feral, kind of glamorous yet painfully authentic version of all my different selves… But I try to do it in a pop way. And every day I get closer and closer to just being Sedona fully.

Sedona by Nicole Hwa-Young Chan

HighClouds: Your debut EP, Rearview Angel… I just love that title. It’s like this balance between confidence and self-deprecation. I envision this image of a beautiful angel that diminishes in the background as you’re driving away from it. I don’t know if that’s what you intended, but it’s a really cool image.

Sedona: The idea of your rearview angel…it’s like your custom shadow, you take it with you wherever you go. It’s a sort of blob of energy that follows you, and it’s made up of all your past, current, and ever-changing selves. It reveals itself as the inner-dialogue in your head, the voice that tells you one day that you’re amazing and the next that you suck. Some days it’s nice to you, some days it’s not. Some days you have to calm yourself down and say, “It’s okay, past trauma, we’re gonna get through this!” Your rearview angel can basically be your best friend or your worst nightmare depending on how you treat yourself, how you deal with what you’ve gone through, and how you move through the world. It’s like a guardian angel, but instead of giving religion all that credit, it’s you. You are your own rearview angel.

HighClouds: That’s such a lovely concept. So, I have to admit that the new EP took me by surprise a little bit. It’s still very you, but it’s not quite a “dirty pop” bop like “More Love”. It’s a lot more understated. Not experimental, but “Best In Show”, for instance—it’s almost like the song is changing in real-time. I imagine you in band practice and your drummer going, “But wait! What if we did it in a swing style like this?” And it comes in for only four seconds and then it’s gone, and it’s so easy to miss the first time, but now it’s one of the parts that I look forward to the most. So how would you describe the sound of Rearview Angel to someone who’s never heard Sedona before?

Sedona: It definitely has more of an indie-pop undertone, but I think the commonality of all my songs is they have some sort of nostalgic undertone driving it forward. I think there are two types of artist: There’s one where they have their sound, and every song sounds like a variation of a previous one. And that’s cool. So many of my favorite artists and bands have that. Then there’s the other, who have varying different sounds and concepts, but perhaps their songwriting or voice is the constant throughout them all. I know with me, at least for now, I’m in the second category. I just do what I can with what I’ve got. I love that the songs are different, I love how they evolve together. I guess we could call it nostalgic pop. Another genre I like to use is myth rock. I teeter depending on the day or who I’m writing with. I try not to put myself into too many boxes. Oh my god, these pancakes look good!

HighClouds: Nice! I want to hear more about your songwriting process.

Sedona: I definitely enjoy co-producing my songs and being a part of forming the arrangement, in terms of what I’m hearing and what I want to have come next. I kind of just feed off who I’m jamming with. But whether it’s a song with a producer or a song with the band, I’m always co-producing and seeing the final vision alongside them. And it all usually starts with the top line. I try to let it happen as naturally as possible. My songwriting varies—sometimes it starts with a poem or a lyric, other times it starts with a melody, it just depends. I’d say my favorite thing to do currently is write top-line melodies.

HighClouds: Sitting at a keyboard? Strumming a guitar?

Sedona: In the shower, in the car, on the train. I also hope that I’ll eventually get to do some songwriting for other people.

HighClouds: Anyone specific?

Sedona: Carly Rae Jepsen! [Laughs] We love Carly. I’d write for Julia Michaels, I’d write for anybody! You know who needs a new writer? The Chainsmokers, blech.

HighClouds: 100%. So, your videos are always very fun. I haven’t seen anything really quite like them, and it looks like there’s just a lot of people involved that are all having a really good time. I just saw the video for “Call Me Up” recently—the way it starts with you alone in the woods, you’d never guess that it would end up with a full-on choreographed dance routine.

Sedona: The concept for “Call Me Up,” I thought of while driving in a Suburban to Jersey. And I just had this image of me waking up in a human bird nest. So I took the back of a Suburban manual and just started writing it all down. As a child, I was always obsessed with more gruesome, off-kilter stuff. That’s probably where my idea to eat that deer leg in Call Me Up came from. That’s a real deer leg. [Laughs] I’m just trying to keep it freaky.

Sedona by Yohance (@yhnce)

HighClouds: How did you end up here where you are now? I had read a bit about plans for a debut album in 2018, and then there were plans for a different EP last year. But now there’s the release with Terrible Records of Rearview Angel. What was that journey like?

Sedona: Well… I have a lot of unfinished demos. I had a concept for an EP and then backed out, thinking, “Oh god, no, I’m not ready, the songs aren’t there, I only have two singles out, and I’m not sure how I want to present it all.” I’ve been enjoying the process of revision, and the process of knowing when it’s time to say something is finished. This EP all happened really serendipitously. My friend Sophia, who’s now my manager, we grew up together—at the beginning of the pandemic, I didn’t have a manager at the time, and she was like, “Yo, let’s do this.” Same with Terrible, I’ve always wanted to do something with them, they’re a Cali label, I have friends on it, and so we began fostering a relationship with them via this EP. And it’s been really cool.

HighClouds: What were some of the biggest challenges making the EP?

Sedona: No money. The pandemic. But the biggest challenge was learning when to say, “It’s done.” I’m someone where it’s never done, I’m hypercritical, I’m never satisfied. So saying, “This is done, let’s focus on what’s next” is something this EP taught me. And I’m definitely there. I’m very happy. I’m still learning to love what I’ve done, but very happy nonetheless. I still don’t like listening to my songs in front of people. I like knowing it makes other people happy, and knowing other people listen to the songs, but I’d love to get to a place one day where I can sit in a room with friends and listen to my own music, and feel proud. I’m not there yet. I’m still figuring it out.

HighClouds: What surprised you the most? Did you learn anything about yourself that you didn’t know before?

Sedona: Hm… I have trust issues. I’m a perfectionist. And I definitely go a thousand miles a minute, 24/7. But I know what I like and I know how to make things happen. For me, my current goal is to just really soak in this release. I want to learn to feel proud of myself. I’m getting there! I’m starting to feel it, even talking to you right now. And I’m honestly just so grateful that people want to listen and that people care enough to. I feel the love!

HighClouds: Well, you should be very proud of the EP. Congratulations on the release, we’re very excited for you. Thanks so much for taking the time to chat, and have a great band practice!

Rearview Angel is out now via Terrible Records. Stream and grab it now.

It should come as no surprise that we’re big Sedona fans around here. Only three weeks ag,o we encouraged you to check out “Crying On My Own,” the band’s lead single from their debut EP releasing a week from this Friday. You’d be forgiven for mistaking that title for a Robyn song, and it makes sense—both share a penchant for the kind of sparkly, 80s-inspired synth-bops expertly written and arranged to make you dance-cry. That’s pretty much been Sedona‘s modus operandi, at least since we first came across singer Rachel Stewart‘s project a year ago with the single “More Love,” an absolute jam that just might sound more like early Madonna than early Madonna herself. The first words of that track read almost like a mission statement: “Did you believe we could last forever? Couldn’t you feel us running out of time?”

Today, Los Angeles-based Sedona is back with another taste of their upcoming release—the thrilling, understated “Best In Show” —and it’s a bit different from what might be expected. Now that Stewart has filled out her project with a full band (with Merilyn Chang on keys, Claire Gilb on guitar, Margaux Bouchegnies on bass, and Tia Cestaro on drums), the feel isn’t quite the Jepsen-esque sugar rush of her earlier tracks. Instead, as the song begins with a slinky bass line, slowly strummed minor-key guitar chords, and a gentle drum beat, the current vibe is much more chill. And melodically, Stewart‘s dreamy, subtly expressive vocals are (still) filled with hooks of the loveliest variety.

Taking the familiar concept of “making it in Hollywood” as its subject matter, “Best In Show” is a celebration of all those southern-California denizens dreaming of celebrity. It must be exhausting—and disheartening—going from audition to audition, sending in demo after demo, and not achieving the kind of success (and within the timeframe) one might have visualized. Stewart is empathetic to this and urges them, in the softly anthemic chorus, to: “Throw it in the ba / No reply from Hollywood today / Throw it in the bay / Watch it float away and cruise on!”

It’s an empowering sentiment, to be sure, one that the band describes as “learning to laugh at yourself, not caring what others think of you, relinquishing approval from those around you, and becoming exactly who to be and who you want to be on your own terms.” This idea becomes even more evident when watching the accompanying video in which Stewart assumes the persona of a half-dozen different women, straddling the line between glamorous and gauche as she mugs for the (Hollywood) camera.

For the first half or so, the song remains in relatively standard indie-pop territory, sharing company with fellow HighClouds regulars Men I Trust, Kate Bollinger, and Barrie. But one of the most unexpected moments occurs right at 1:42, when drummer Cestaro uses her ride cymbal to briefly switch from steady rhythm to swing—completely altering the feel of the track for only four seconds—before returning to the original beat. It’s easy to overlook the impact of these two bars upon first listen. But not only does it work with the thematic conceit of the song—switching styles as a metaphor for changing character—it also foreshadows the second half of “Best In Show” wherein the style continues to gradually shift to the point where, at about 3:15, it becomes an almost entirely new song: slower, dreamier, gauzier, nearly Lynchian.

Sedona has produced a tiny triumph of a pop song, a confident, catchy, unassuming, and self-aware delight that makes a statement and warrants repeat listening. We couldn’t be more excited for the rest of the Rearview Angel EP to drop next week – don’t forget to pre-order it – and until then, please enjoy “Best In Show” below.