Photos / Angelo Kritikos
Story / Freza Palermo
Makeup & Hair / Jeanne San Diego
Styling / Kristina Leslie
Have you ever floated in a sensory deprivation tank? I make a habit of it, because I live in Los Angeles and am tormented by the compulsive need to feel enlightened and well. It’s a bizarre and addictive feeling – you’re weightless and blind but acutely aware of each breath, every muscle in your body. By the end you’ve sunk so far into your own head that stepping out of the chamber feels like rebirth into the light. It’s an experience that I always believed was uniquely its own – until I listened to Stalgia’s recent single, ‘Spirit Animal’.
Stalgia describes their sound as “familiar, like the sound of your own heart beating… the perfect marriage of R&B emotion meets hypnosis.” The LA-based duo’s latest release, ‘Spirit Animal’, is a maelstrom of atmospheric synth and tonal hypnotism. The track kicks off in an ethereal landscape with Lauren Day, the group’s vocalist, reciting lyrics with such steadiness, they read as an incantation or affirmation. The crescendo that follows the first passage of Day’s hypnotic singing helps to close the song’s emotional loop; a 30-second buildup that’s so cathartic it’ll make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
With cumulative stream counts over 13M and a growing fan base across all media platforms – with key placements on top Spotify, Apple and YouTube playlists and channels, as well as enthusiastic radio support from Jason Bentley’s cult favorite “Morning Becomes Eclectic” on KCRW – Stalgia has marked themselves as ones to watch in the new music scene. ‘Spirit Animal’ is the first single to drop from Stalgia’s forthcoming EP ‘NOMAD’, and has us marking up our calendars for its fall release. Until then, I’ll be listening to ‘Spirit Animal’ on repeat, feeling one step closer to enlightenment with each replay.
