“Tell me how it feels / To be this alone / Always in for the kill / A life, a chore, who knows,” sings Late Again in Like Albie Said, the first song on his four-track new EP, Absolutely Almost Sure, out today. The opening lyrics are sad, melancholic, and speak of his loneliness now that he’s moved to New York City to try his luck in the music industry. Born and raised in Brazil, the artist is finding his place in the new city that he now calls home. That’s probably why his sound is dreamy and conveys a sense of escapism and nostalgia.
Late Again came into the scene just in April this year with another EP, Migraine Fever Dream, which included tracks People Pleasers, Flood, and Everything, Nothing. His love for ‘90s synths is already there, although those songs are more languid and lo-fi. In Absolutely Almost Sure, the NYC-based artist explores other genres and paths in a very personal way, opening up about his struggles in the lyrics and crafting nostalgic soundscapes.
In A House on the Beach, he longs for a place to escape and grow old with his loved one: “I just want love and some kids / Retire just like grandpa did / A tree house, or whatever,” he sings. There is a conflict between ambition and going back to basics—a clash one might interpret as the dichotomy between his Brazilian roots and his current situation in the aggressive, fast-paced, uber expensive city. This aim to escape oneself is still prevalent in Take Me Wherever—the title speaks for itself, doesn’t it? He closes the EP with Sad, Sad Funk, which takes a traditional Brazilian funk beat and lowers its BPM to the minimum, imbuing it with a melancholic touch.