Tag: indie pop

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: LavBbe Shares A Sultry, Genre-Defying Banger

LavBbe is a rising Romanian-born, British-based artist, who can trace her passion for music and dance to her childhood growing up in a performing household: She received her first bellydancing costume as a special present from her grandmother — and she quickly began to show her talent to everyone around her. Her father was a singer, and she grew up surrounded by an eclectic array of music including rock, jazz and soul — with Amy Winehouse and Sade being major inspirations.

When she turned 16, LavBbe relocated from Romania to Newcastle to continue her studies. Inspired by some of the world’s great dancers and performers, she attended classes in contemporary dance, acting and singing for a year.

Upon graduation, she became a flight attendant at Virgin Atlantic. She wound up taking a break from her dancing routine but when the pandemic broke out back in 2020, she started to create dance videos on TikTok, dancing from morning to evening. In a few months, she quickly amassed over one million followers and became a highly sought-after influencer, with a deep love of Afrobeats. Her dance videos, which reveal effervescent dance moves went viral, and she has now amassed over 4.6 million followers on TikTok, and tens of millions of comments.

After the lockdown, she traveled to New York, Los Angeles and Nigeria for work, but her music career began in earnest a few months ago, when multiple Grammy-nominated, Romanian producer Costi Ionita discovered her on TikTok. “Lavbbe is talented, valuable and multilaterally developed, with a a great voice which impresses me”, Ionita says.

LavBbe’s second and latest single, the Ionita-produced, Ionita, LavBbe and Silviu Dimitriu-co-written “Pumping” seamlessly meshes elements of Afrobeats, reggaeton, Balkan, pop and dance music in slick, club friendly production that serves as the perfect vehicle for the Romanian-British artist’s sultry, self-assured delivery. I’m certain of one thing: this artist is a certified global star, and we’ll be hearing more about her in the future.

Directed by Alex Ceaușu, the accompanying video for “Pumping” follows the Romanian-British artist through a variety of brightly colored backdrops while revealing her playful yet self-assured and undeniable sex appeal.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Sweden’s The Sweet Serenades Share Hopeful and Anthemic “Akhilia”

Martin Nordvall is a Swedish singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and creative mastermind behind the acclaimed recording project The Sweet Serenades. And with The Sweet Serenades, the Swedish artist specializes in a sound that’s designed for both small clubs and late night car rides.

Nordvall’s work has been highly praised across the blogosphere, and as a result of his material appearing in TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Teen Wolf and The Fosters, the acclaimed Swedish artist has toured around the world.

His last album 2020’s City Lights featured a brooding sound built around dark synths and programmed beats. But his forthcoming fifth album, the Johannes Berglund-produced Everything Dies reportedly features a much more playful sound. “While writing and recording the new album I lost my father in [sic] a heart attack, I also became a father myself for the first time,” Nordvall says of the album., “The contrast between loss and happiness can be heard in the songs  – in the end it’s a hopeful album filled with energy – life is a cool thing.”

Everything Dies‘ second and latest single “Akhilia” features rumbling toms, insistent four-on-the-floor, a mischievous marimba melody, twinkling synths, and buzzing guitars paired with Nordvall’s penchant for enormous, rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses and his weary yet hopeful delivery. At its core, is a song with a simple yet profound and oft-heard message, that frequently needs to be repeated — all things pass in time.

“Rumbling toms, four on the floor, a contagious marimba melody mixed with 80s synths and distorted guitars. Could be the first time The Little Mermaid and New Order has something in common,” Nordvall says of the new single. “This is an ambitious song that wants to be heard. It wants to be a hit. Arena Indie.” 

The accompanying video features a young child in a silver mask dancing in a wooden area. The video captures and emphasizes the mischievousness and the resilience within the song.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Dzasko Shares Breezy and Nostalgic “Take a Chance”

Diego Zevallos is Lima-born singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and DJ who splits his time between his hometown and Los Angeles. Zevallos is also the creative mastermind behind the emerging recording project Dzasko. The Peruvian artist’s Dzasko debut EP 2021’s Letters from California was recorded between Los Angeles and Joshua Tree and saw him quickly establishing a retro-futuristic sound.

The Lima-born artist’s sophomore Dzasko EP Auguries of Innocence derives its name from William Blake’s famous poem “Auguries of Innocence,” a piece about corruption and the loss of innocence. Fittingly, the EP’s material sees the Lima-born artist reflecting on corruption and the loss of innocence, inspired and informed by the political turbulence in Lima last year. The EP’s latest single “Take A Chance” sees Zevallos crating an catchy and breezy blend of psych pop, indie rock and electro pop reminiscent of Tame Impala — but dreamier and full of aching nostalgia for a place and time that can’t ever be had again.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Montréal’s Diamond Day Shares Lush and Bittersweet “Noisemaker”

Montréal-based duo Diamond Day features two highly acclaimed musicians in their own right:

  • Vermont-born Béatrix Méthé was raised with the traditional music of rural Québec. Her family moved to Canada when she was baby, and she grew up acquiring Lanaudiere’s regional repertoire from her father, the founder of legendary folk-trad group Le Rêve du Diable. Her mother, a singer-songwriter and fine arts graduate versed in early digital media, inspired Méthé’s own aesthetic. After spending some time venturing deeper into visual art, Béthé moved to Montréal to study filmmaking, but wound up discovering indie and psychedelic folk music along the way. She cut her studies short in 2015 to pursue music full-time, fronting acclaimed outfit Rosier. Rosier’s unique fusion of Québécois folk and indie rock garnered multiple nominations and awards — and lead them to tour across 15 countries with stops at SXSW, NPR’s Mountain Stage and the BBC.

  • Western Canada-born Quinn Bachand grew up in a home where art was omnipresent and the family’s 40-year-old record collection was on an omnipresent loop. As the son of a luthier, Bachand began playing guitars handmade by his father and was touring internationally by the time he turned 12. After graduating from Berklee College of Music back in 2019 on a presidential scholarship, the Western Canadian-born multi-instrumentalist spent time in the Grammy-nominated band Kittel & Co. His involvement in the US folk scene prompted collaborations with a number of like-minded artists, including Chris Thile. In 2019, Bachand began collaborating with Méthé and Rosier, quickly establishing himself as an influential, genre-bending producer.

That initial successful collaboration together led to the duo’s forthcoming full-length debut as Diamond Day, Connect the Dots. Connect the Dots is slated for a Fall 2023 release and reportedly sees the Montréal-based duo crafting a sound that weaves elements of folk, indie rock, electronica, shoegaze and dream pop into a unique take on alt-pop.

Connect the Dots‘ first single, “Noisemaker” is built around tape-saturated organ echo, fluttering synths, blown out beats, a sinuous bass line and lush, painterly shoegazer textured guitars paired with Méthé’s gorgeous vocal. Sonically, the song reminds me a bit of a mix of Beach House and Souvlaki-era Slowdive with a subtle amount of glitchiness.

Directed by Natan B. Foisy, the accompanying video captures the angst, frustration and boredom of rural Québéc with an uncanny, lived-in specificity. “Our friend Natan B. Foisy directed the music video. He grew up in Joliette, Québec, close to me,” Diamond Day’s Béatrix Méthé says. “When we were teenagers, the ‘cool’ thing to do in the winter was ‘drifting’ – ‘faire de la drift’ we call it in French. Natan heard those floating synths and imagined cars drifting in a high school parking lot, at least the slightly trashy Québec version. . . ” Diamond Day’s Quinn Bachand adds “It’s actually illegal, so they had to be pretty low profile when filming it all.” “The video is based around that type of rural angst. And so is the song, in some ways,” Méthé adds. “It’s about detecting parts and patterns in yourself that are ‘not fine.'”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Portland’s Small Million Shares Anthemic Ballad “FOMO”

Rooted in the collaboration of longtime creative partners Ryan Linder and Malachi Graham, Portland, OR-based indie pop outfit Small Million specializes in pairing deeply affecting sonic production informed by Linder’s background as a filmmaker with smart, lived-in lyrics about intuition and inhibition, losing control and ending up in unexpected places, being willing to fuck up, bodies being joyful, bodies being hurt and more. The end result is work that’s simultaneously intimate yet epic, delicate yet fierce. 

Since 2018’s Young Fools EP, several years of experiencing chronic pain have led Small Million’s frontperson Malachi Graham to deep explorations of embodiment that have changed everything from her singing voice to her dance movies to her observations of human frailty. “There’s one side of chronic pain that leads you towards intuition, self-discovery, and listening closely to yourself. But it also means you end up sitting on the side of the room a lot, watching people and paying attention. Also you’re pissed,” Graham explains. 

Linder and Graham have been writing together as a duo but they recently expanded into a quartet, with the addition of Small Skies‘ Ben Tyler (drums) and Lo Pony‘s Kale Chesney (bass, backing vocals). Fittingly, their evolution into a quartet has resulted in the band’s sound and approach expanding to encompass more rock-based instrumentation and energy. 

Small Million have been releasing material throughout the course of the year, including “Burnout,” a hook-driven bit of pop built around Graham’s ethereal melody, glistening guitar lines and a driving rhythm section. But underneath the infectiousness of the song is a sort of revenge fantasy about the feminine urge to destroy the male self-serving and flat vision of you, and dance in the rubble and flames. “My mom always told me to beware of being a ‘flattering mirror;’ to watch out for people who adore you because they love how you make them feel about themselves,” Small Million’s Malachi Graham explains.

“FOMO,” the Portland-based outfit’s latest single is big, heart-worn-on-sleeve ballad built around Graham’s yearning delivery, glistening synths, reverb-soaked drums paired with enormous, shout along worthy hooks. At its core, “FOMO” is an earnest and swooning celebration of devotion — both platonic and romantic.

“This video is a love letter to the fast food napkins in your glove box, to the slice of pie behind hazy glass. It’s a reminder to leave cash tips, and make your friends run errands with you,” Kale Chesney, the accompanying video’s director says of the video. “Life is hard enough as it is, don’t forget to find beauty in the mundane. If I had to summarize Ryan and Malachi’s friendship from the back seat It would boil down to this simple gesture: during a drive, of any length of time, the two of them will constantly show each other songs they love and are inspired by. But every single time they press play, the end up turning the volume down 15 seconds into it because one of them is so genuinely interested to hear what the other is saying. I’ve never seen anything so sweet and and gently chaotic.”

Small Million’s forthcoming album Passenger will be released through Tender Loving Empire. Be on the lookout for it, y’all.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Me.Kai Shares Brooding “Why It’s So”

Me.Kai is a singer/songwriter and guitarist, who began her career busking on Santa Barbara‘s streets covering an eclectic array of artists including Ella Fitzgerald and Dua Lipa, among others. Gradually transitioning from cover artist to solo artist, she became a staple in her hometown’s music scene, collaborating with Area 51, Everything’s Fine, and a number of up-and-coming producers, including Gold Man and Burko. As as solo artist, she has developed and honed a genre-blending style and sound that draws from  Janis Joplin and Stevie Nicks, and her love of bass heavy, indie electro pop. 

Some of her songs have landed on Insomniac’s In/Rotation Label list, and several high-profile Spotify playlists. She has also had some of her work appear in the Netflix series All American. Building upon a growing profile, the Santa Barbara-based artist plans to be very busy: a number of collaborations with popular EDM producers and her debut EP are slated to on the horizon in the upcoming months. 

Earlier this year, I wrote about “Bump in the Night,” an accessible and sultry bop built around Me.Kai’s coquettish, come hither delivery and a breezy bop, glinting guitars, wobbling tweeter and woofer rattling low end, dancehall-like riddims and twinkling synths. The song is full of carnal longing and desire and features a narrator, who boldly expresses that she has sexual needs and desires that need to be fulfilled — now.

Her latest single “Why It’s So” is a brooding bit of singer/songwriter synth pop featuring a sinuous bass line, skittering boom bap beats, atmospheric synths paired with Me.Kai’s plaintive vocal. While seemingly nodding at a synthesis of R&B and Dido, “Why It’s So” is rooted in lived-in personal experience.

“‘Why It’s So’ was a very personal project for me,” Me,Kai explains. “It follows the ups and downs of being in an abusive relationship with the love of my life, finally making it out safely.. and then the hardship that follows afterward, even knowing you made the right decision for yourself in the end. I hope this song can take people on an emotional journey through that process of persevering through love and hardship.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: NISEFF Shares Summery Bop “La Nota”

With the release of her debut EP, Mami Spicy, the emerging and rapidly rising Puerto Rican artist Niseff quickly established a sound that that blends elements of reggaeton and contemporary pop and pairs it with her sultry delivery and empowering lyrics.

Earlier this year, I wrote about “Ta To Cool,” a song built around skittering reggaeton beats and glistening synth arpeggios paired with a series of razor sharp, infectious and well-placed hooks and Niseff’s sultry-self assured delivery.

The Puerto Rican artist’s latest single “La Nota” is a slick synthesis of skittering reggaton beats and cumbia paired with Niseff’s sultry delivery. “La Nota” continues a remarkable run of dance floor friendly bangers – – but while arguably being the most summery she has released to date.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: New York’s Pink Honey Moan Teams up with Beeson and daoud on Breezy yet Brooding “Bad Man”

Jared Lindbloom is a South Dakota-born, New York-based singer/songwriter, musician and creative mastermind behind the emerging songwriting and musical project Pink Honey Moan. And with Pink Honey Moan, Lindbloom frequently sees his work teetering between the dusty, folky and homespun songs of his early EPs, the electro surf rock and pop of his other project FISHDOCTOR, Swedish outfit Stargazy and Tredmills paired with direct, heartfelt lyricism.

Released earlier this year, “Bad Man,” the second single off Lindbloom’s forthcoming Pink Honey Moan album The Live Life Girl Will Arm You is a hook-driven and crafted bit of pop built around strummed acoustic guitar, atmospheric synths, twinkling keys, some soulful trumpet from French musician daoud, backing vocals from alt-pop artist Beeson paired with Lindbloom’s plaintive delivery, earnest, lived-in lyricism and knack for infectious hooks. Sonically, “Bad Man” brings to mind Danish JOVM mainstays Palace Winter and Montréal‘s Reno McCarthy with the song being a remarkable display of craft — without losing its earnestness.

“‘Bad Man’ isn’t so much about a nefarious character, as it is more akin to the sentiment ‘it’s bad, man,” Lindbloom explains. “You made your bed, now you gotta sleep in it. I wanted it to sit at the intersection of Nick Cave x Elliott Smith x The Magnetic Fields during a scene in an episodic crime thriller like True Detective.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Javier Moreno Teams up with Adrian Garcia on Breezy Bop “Enamorado”

Javier Moreno is an emerging Barcelona-born singer/songwriter and guitarist. Moreno started playing guitar when he turned 11, after listening to Dire Straits and Paco de Lucia. In 2006, he relocated to Bristol, then to London, where he wound up fronting Los Amigos, a Latin music band that spent 13 years touring across the UK, Europe and elsewhere.

Moreno is currently working on his Joe Dworniak-produced third album. But in the meantime, his latest single “Enamorado,” a collaboration with Mexican singer and producer Adrian Garcia is a breezy, feel good bop that’s a slick synthesis of modern production, old-school craft and funky Latin groove.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay Marie Dahlstrøm and Sipprell Team Up on Sultry “The Process”

Over the past few years, the acclaimed Roskilde-born, London-based singer/songwriter, musician, producer and JOVM mainstay Marie Dahlstrøm has proven herself to be one of the most prolific and essential talents in contemporary, underground R&B.

Dahlstrøm continues multitudes, a thousand different selves co-existing and contradicting each other — at once. An acclaimed singer/songwriter and producer. A mother. A partner. “These different pockets of life also create friction,” she acknowledges. “I’ve been figuring out where I belong, what I’m supposed to do and how I fit into all of this — because I am so much more than an artist. When you have big dreams or goals and you see time being taken away from achieving them, and going towards something else — how do you make that a positive experience? There are always challenges, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good life.” Fittingly, the Roskilde-born, London-based JOVM mainstay’s highly anticipated sophomore album A Good Life thematically is about dismantling the idea that your validity as an artist diminishes when it’s not the focal point of your life, that somehow being a parent somehow negates creativity. Hell, this can be even said for those artists, who have to support themselves with a day job.

“I hope that every album I make will convey a sense of honesty to it. This one is based on reflections from a few years of my life with many changes and adjustments,” Dahlstrøm adds. “It’s an album about human interaction in all its complexity.”

A Good Life is slated for a May 22, 2023 release through Dahlstrøm’s JFH Records. But in the meantime, the album’s last single before its release, “The Process” features Dahlstrom’s longtime friend and collaborator Sipprell. Built around twinkling piano, skittering beats, bursts of shimmering guitar, a Quiet Storm-meets-smooth jazz guitar solo, whirring electronics and a sinuous bass line, “The Process” is a seemingly effortless and sultry bop that sees its collaborators soulfully dissecting the intricacies and complications of being an artist — with a lived-in specificity.

“The song is about creativity, and the process of that,” the Roskilde-born, London-based JOVM mainstay explains. “The song is about the creative process. It’s about letting go in order to catch inspiration when it presents itself. Trying to go with the flow rather than forcing it.”

The accompanying video Lennon Gregory features Dahlstrom and Sipprell in a bare studio on an intimate photo shoot/video shoot and captures their friendship with an honesty while they vamp and sing for the camera.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Sôra is an emerging Paris-born, Montréal-based singer/songwriter and composer. After completing studies in Modern Languages, music and jazz vocal, the Paris-born, Montréal-based artist sang in a number of different bands before stepping out into the spotlight as a solo artist with her debut EP 2018’s Number One.

Her full-length debut, 2021’s Long Life to Phil was written as a tribute to her father Phillipe — and was released through Colligence Records.

“You Love Me,” is the first bit of original material since the release of Long Life to Phil is a slickly bit of contemporary R&B/soul built around skittering trap beats, woozy and wobbling low end paired with the emerging Canadian-based artist’s sultry delivery. Inspired by the likes of Brent Faiyaz, Snoh Aalegra, and Jorja Smith, the new single is a wildly accessible bop but rooted in seemingly lived-in experience with Sôra expressing longing and frustration. “It reflects the difficulties one encounters in a relationship where love isn’t expressed the same way,” she explains.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Pearl & The Oysters Share Woozy and Dreamy “Fireflies”

Released earlier this year through Stones Throw Records, Pearl & The Oysters‘ fourth album, Coast 2 Coast is heavily influenced by the pair’s move from Paris to Los Angeles — with a stop in Florida. Written mostly in Juliette “Pearl” Davis’ and Joachim Polack’s 1-bed apartment, the album’s material was fleshed out by a collection of friends and collaborators including Stereolab‘s Lætitia Sadier, Unknown Mortal Orchesta‘s, Caroline Rose’s and La Luz’s Riley Geare, Neon Indian creative mastermind Alan Palomo, Dent May, Mild High Club‘s Alex Brettin, and Shags Chamberlain, who mixed the album.

Because it was inspired so much by the pair’s relocation, the album thematically explores the idea of travel — physical, mental, experienced and fantasized. The album draws on an eclectic array of aesthetics and images, including Barbarella followed by an Agnés Varda triple bill; Florida swamps and sandy L.A. beaches under a mirrorball-like sun; a radio picking up a faraway broadcast before it fades into an oldies pop station, and crashing waves that melt into the sound of Davis’ white noise machine, among other things.

Coast 2 Coast‘s latest single “Fireflies” is a breezy and nostalgia-tinged bop built around woozy analog synths, twinkling keys, a supple bass line and a steady yet propulsive backbeat paired with Davis’ plaintive delivery. Sonically. “Fireflies” reminds me a bit of a synthesis of Young Narrator in the Breakers-era Pavo Pavo and 70s AM rock. Inspired by the late composer Ryuchi Sakamoto, the song explores dream states and insomniac visions.

Directed by Ambar Navarro, the accompanying video for “Fireflies” is informed by old sci-fi films: We see Davis hatching from a pearl and throughout the video, she plays a a daydreaming Tinkerbell type, who travels freely from planet to planet. Police acts as a controller of the universe while trying to capture Juliette, who has teleportation powers.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Small Million Shares a Hook-Driven Feminist Anthem

Rooted in the collaboration of longtime creative partners Ryan Linder and Malachi Graham, Portland, OR-based indie pop outfit Small Million specializes in pairing deeply affecting sonic production informed by Linder’s background as a filmmaker with smart, lived-in lyrics about intuition and inhibition, losing control and ending up in unexpected places, being willing to fuck up, bodies being joyful, bodies being hurt and more. The end result is work that’s simultaneously intimate yet epic, delicate yet fierce.

Since 2018’s Young Fools EP, years of experiencing chronic pain have led Small Million’s frontperson Malachi Graham to deep explorations of embodiment that have changed everything from her singing voice to her dance movies to her observations of human frailty. “There’s one side of chronic pain that leads you towards intuition, self-discovery, and listening closely to yourself. But it also means you end up sitting on the side of the room a lot, watching people and paying attention. Also you’re pissed,” Graham explains.

Linder and Graham have been writing together as a duo but they recently expanded into a quartet, with the addition of Small Skies‘ Ben Tyler (drums) and Lo Pony‘s Kale Chesney (bass, backing vocals. Fittingly, their evolution into a quartet has resulted in the band’s sound and approach expanding to encompass more rock-based instrumentation and energy.

The Portland-based outfit have been releasing new music throughout the course of the year, including their latest single “Burnout,” which will appear on their forthcoming album Passenger, slated for release through Tender Loving Empire. “Burnout” is a hook-driven bit of pop built around Graham’s ethereal vocal melody, glistening guitar lines, and a driving rhythm section. But underneath the infectiousness of the song is a sort of revenge fantasy about the feminine urge to destroy the male self-serving and flat vision of you, and dance in the rubble and flames. “My mom always told me to beware of being a ‘flattering mirror;’ to watch out for people who adore you because they love how you make them feel about themselves,” Small Million’s Malachi Graham explains.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Acclaimed Inuk Artist Elisapie Shares a Gorgeous Adaptation OF Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time”

Acclaimed Montréal-based singer/songwriter, musician, actor and activist Elisapie Issac (best known as the mononymic Elisapie) was born and raised in Salluit, a small village in Nunavik, Québec’s northernmost region. In this extremely remote community, accessible only by plane, Issac was raised by an extended, yet slightly dysfunctional adoptive family. Growing up in Salliut, she lived through the loss of cousins who ended their lives. experienced young love, danced the night away at the village’s community center and witnessed first hand, the effects of colonialism — i.e., poverty, hopelessness, alcoholism, suicide, and more.

A teenaged Issac began performing on stage with her uncles, who were members of Sugluk (also known as Salliut Band), a famous and well-regarded Inuit rock band. She also worked at TNI, the village’s radio station, which broadcast across the region. And while working for the radio station, the teenaged Issac managed to secure an interview with Metallica.

Much like countless bright and ambitious young people across the world, Issac moved to the big city — in this case, Montréal to study and, ultimately, pursue a career in music. Since then, her work, whether within the confines of a band or as a solo artist, her unconditional attachment to her native territory, its people, and to her language, Inuktitut is at the core of her work. Spoken for millennia, Inuktitut embodies the harshness of its environment and the wild yet breathtaking beauty of the Inuit territory. Thematically, her work frequently pairs Intuit themes and concerns with modern rock music, mixing tradition with modernity in a deft fashion.

She won her first Juno Award as a member of Taima, and since then Issac’s work has received rapturous critical acclaim: 2018’s The Ballad of the Runaway Girl was shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize, earned her a number of Association du disque, de l’industrie du spectacle Québeécois (ADISQ) Felix Awards and a Juno Award nod. She followed up with a performance with the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal — at the invitation of Grammy Award-winning maestro Yannick Nézet Séguin — at Central Park SummerStage, a NPR Tiny Desk Session and headlining or festival sets both locally and internationally.

In her native Canada, Issac is also known as an actor, starting in the TV series Motel Paradis and C.S. Roy’s experimental indie film VFC, which was released earlier this year. She’s also graced the cover of a number of nationally known magazines including Châtelaine, Elle Québec and a long list of others. And as a devoted activist, she created and produced the first nation-wide broadcast TV show to celebrate National Indigenous People’s Day.

Slated for a September 15, 2023 release through Bonsound, Issac’s forthcoming album Inuktiut features inventive re-imaginings of songs by Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Blondie, Fleetwood Mac, Metallica and more. These are all acts and artists that the acclaimed Inuk artist received permission from. Elisapie has imbued each song with both depth and purpose, an act of cultural reappropriation that reinvigorates the poetry of these 10 classics by placing them within Inuit traditions. The album’s first single “Uummati Attanarsimat (Heart of Glass),” caught the attention of the legendary Debbie Harry.

The album’s second and latest single is a gorgeous and fairly faithful Inuktiut adaptation of Cyndi Lauper‘s 1983 Rob Hyman co-written smash hit “Time After Time” that retains the familiar beloved melody of the original paired with a percussive yet atmospheric arrangement and Issac’s gorgeous, achingly tender delivery.

Much like her previous single, “Taimangalimaaq (Time After Time)” was inspired by a childhood memory of Elisapie’s aunt Alasie and her cousin Susie:
 
“I was able to get through my pre-teen years, thanks to my Aunt Alasie, as my mother had neither the knowledge nor the experience to give me a crash course on puberty, fashion or social relationships,” Isaac recalls. “In addition to entering a new chapter in my life, we were in the midst of the 80’s and modernity was shaking up our traditional methods. My mother’s generation had lived in Igloos, and the cultural changes were too swift. 
 
Despite her struggles, my aunt ensured I felt accepted and exposed me to new and modern things like TV, clothes, dancing, Kraft Dinner and make-up! 
 
Whenever I went to my aunt’s house, I was in awe of my older girl cousins. They were all so cool and stylish, and they loved pop music and the crazy makeup of the 80s and early 90s.  One of my favorite memories is listening to the radio with them and hearing Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Time After Time’ for the first time. It was like a lightning bolt, and I couldn’t separate the song or the artist from my older cousin Susie. For me, the song was all about her search for beauty, connection, love, and rising above pain.”

Directed by Philippe Léonard and edited by Omar Elhamy, the accompanying video for “Taimangalimaaq (Time After Time)” features home video-shot footage of dances, performances and games at her beloved community center, of kids just being kids and a slow yet steady encroachment of modernity as we see at least one kid popping and locking like Crazylegzs or least trying to do so. The video is a lovingly nostalgic look at the acclaimed Inuk’s community and of her childhood, making the video a meditation on the passing of time, and in some way the impact of pop culture on a young person trying to find their place in a changing world.