Ahead of its release this Friday (May 27), HAAi has shared the final single from her debut album, ‘Baby, We’re Ascending’ – an angular, experimental techno belter titled ‘Human Sound’.
It features guest vocals from London artists Obi Franky and Kai-Isaiah Jamal, the former adding a wealth of colour to the mix with her rich and soulful harmonies, and the latter giving it a bold and authoritative punch with his striking, bluntly spoken poetry.
“The collapsing begins,” Jamal says in the opening of his monologue. “A sound is a certain way of conjuring – not sure if it gives us our soul or gets its; reminds us of our gut and our ability to forget it; reminds us of what lingers in limbs and our option to sweat it out…”
Have a listen to ‘Human Sound’ below:
‘Human Sound’ is the fourth single to come from ‘Baby, We’re Ascending’, following the release of ‘Bodies Of Water’ in February, ‘Purple Jelly Disc’ (which also features Obi Franky) in March, and the Jon Hopkins-featuring title track at the start of May. Also featured on the record is Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip (on ‘Biggest Mood Ever’).
HAAi – real name Teneil Throssell – also appears alongside Kelly Lee Owens on the new single by Daniel Avery, ‘Chaos Energy’, which came out last week. Back in January, she featured on the collaborative single ‘Lights Out’ with Fred Again.. and The xx’s Romy.
In a recent interview with NME, Throssell spoke candidly about how ‘Baby, We’re Ascending’ features her first collaborative album cuts. “One of the main reasons I had never invited anyone in before was the fear of someone saying, ‘You’re not doing this yourself’,” she said.
“As a non-male artist, that happens more often, so I was like, if I’m doing everything from start to finish on my music, I can always back myself up. But I had to really get over that, take a bit more ownership but also give some of it up.”
Elsewhere in the chat, Throssell told NME that putting together a full record opened her eyes to what she’s able to achieve: “It’s taken so long for an album to exist, that now, having this body of work that I’m so proud of, that’s so reflective of me at its core, there’s a little bit more self-assuredness that I didn’t have before. It can be really hard to describe what you are [without that].”
