Plus, the L.A.-based talent heads to Europe.
Even with a deluxe version of her breakthrough mixtape Cut 4 Me and an eagerly-anticipated debut album on the way, Kelela is not slowing down: the Fade To Mind singer-songwriter has announced Hallucinogen, a six-song EP that explores a cycle of love and sexuality, from “rejection and amputation” to “feral lust and longing” through to “the payoff.”
The EP is comprised of songs originally intended for her debut album, which is due this Fall. Heartbroken lead track ‘A Message’ kicks off the cycle with “rejection and amputation,” and was produced by man-of-the-moment Arca, with additional writing and production by Boots and Mocky Salome.
“I met Alejandro [Arca] on a boat in August of 2012,” Kelela says via press release. “We sought one another out across a dance floor and within 5 minutes agreed to meet each other as soon as possible to collaborate. I had one song released to my name and had just heard one of his mixes, but we knew we’d found something in one another.
“We spent the next three days, 14 hours a day talking about our artistic visions and how it intersected with our personal lives, making songs that reflected that while dancing around the room to let it all out. About 5 or 6 demos were born out of these three days.
“‘A Message’ is one of the demos that came from those sessions and it speaks to the despair that I was experiencing at the time. The initial version of the song spilled out of us in about 25 minutes. Since then, it’s been like a sculpture that I’ve come to and refined over time, adding a lyric here, refining a melody there, adding a bridge, etc. It’s a process that is now finally complete with its release and I’m so happy that I finally get to share it with all of you.”
Watch the striking video for ‘A Message’, directed by Daniel Sannwald. Hallucinogen is due out on May 5; the cover art and tracklist are below, along with Kelela’s upcoming European tour dates.
1. A Message
2. Gomenasai
3. Swoop
4. All The Way Down
5. Hallucinogen
6. The High
5/14 – Brighton, United Kingdom @ Great Escape
5/15 – Lyon, France @ Nuits Sonores
5/16 – Rome, Italy @ Spring Attitude
5/18 – Helsinki, Finland @ Keedes Linja
5/19 – Prague, Czech Republic @ MeetFactory
5/20 – Ljubljana, Slovenia @ Kino Siska
5/22 – Paris, France @ Point FMR
5/24 – Bristol, United Kingdom @ Love Saves The Day
5/26 – London, United Kingdom @ XOYO
5/28 – Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera Sound (Vice Stage)
5/30 – Dublin, Ireland @ Forbidden Fruit
5/31 – Berlin, Germany @ Berlin Festival at Glashaus
