Photo credit: Hollie Fernando
New York-based Shura is pleased to announce her sophomore album, forevher, due August 16th via Secretly Canadian / Rhythmethod. Written primarily about Shura’s relationship with her girlfriend and its long-distance conception, forevher covers the initial pull of desire to recognise the moment when the connection develops into something scarily meaningful: it’s a classic NYC-to-London love-story, but one told through the totally modern filter of dating apps, unanswered texts, and Skype chats. Following the “swelling synths and pings of saxophone” (The FADER) of ‘BKLYNLDN,’ she offers a new single/video, ‘religion (u can lay your hands on me),’ – a mediation on queer desire that explores the concept of sex being like a religion. The song was inspired by the burgeoning love affair, a time of constant texts and phone calls on different continents, where the phrase “you can lay your hands on me” takes on a playful meaning.
Watch ‘religion (u can lay your hands on me)’ official video below
|
Watch ‘BKLYNLDN’ official video
On her 2016 debut, Nothing’s Real, the half-Russian singer, songwriter and producer became an accidental ambassador for the lonesome and rejected. Its themes of anxiety, unrequited romance and the outsider were articulated in fantastical bedroom-pop, which earned Shura an impassioned global fanbase. Unsurprisingly, if you’d have told her just a few years ago that she’d make a follow-up exploring “all that love is,” few would have been as surprised as herself. And whilst how to live – and love – as a queer woman has always been integral to Shura, it’s remarkable to hear the timeless stories of forevher twisted into new sonic fabric: this time around, the inspiration of Joni Mitchell, The Internet, Prince and Minnie Riperton formed the basis of a record that (despite its universal theme) still in many ways runs counter to the dominant cultural narratives.
