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FRESH from the release of their single 'Hoodie' earlier this year, R&B songstress Lunadira and rising producer Reddi Rocket launched their joint EP 'Tangerine' on November 27.
The five-track release will be accompanied by a music video for the morbidly-titled track and first song off the release 'am i gonna die?'.
With Lunadira's biggest strength being her storytelling, this EP reinforces something that has been true throughout her musical journey. Similarly, for Reddi Rocket, his role as a producer and featured vocalist complements the musical collage of their shared intimate narrative.
According to Lunadira, 'Tangerine' is all about fleeting moments in time that leave long-lasting impressions.
"This Tangerine-tinted world Reddi Rocket and I created for ourselves during the pandemic was the product of personal longing and hope," she said in a press release.
"We're hoping it takes you on a journey of emotional release from the moment you lock eyes on that stranger, to the aching pain you feel when it's time to let them go. There are several layers to peel off this EP, and most of it is bittersweet."
With plenty of musicality and heart, the charismatic 26-year-old, Lunadira, is no stranger to the highs and lows of romance, serenading listeners with her delicate and unique perspective.
The two noted that 'Hoodie' was a "palate cleanser" during the time they were working on their solo projects.
"Once the track was done, we thought that making a project based off the idea that therapy in music was through collaboration, we decided to just have fun with it," Lunadira told The Vibes recently.
"We were getting to know each other more through this project so the dynamic just made sense."
Kicking off her musical exploration by performing covers on YouTube, Lunadira has grown with each consecutive single released in the past two years, accumulating 1.3 million plays on Spotify from 80 countries in the last year.
She has also performed at some of Malaysia’s leading festivals such as Good Vibes and Urbanscapes, as well as becoming the fresh new face of time-tested brands including Doc Martens, Fred Perry, and Levi's.
The two pointed out that their artistic influences stemmed from each others’ interest in artists such as Moses Sumney, Arlo Parks, Alex Turner, Kenny Beats, and more, but most of it came from their peers in music in the heart of their home base, Kuala Lumpur.
Lunadira said her favorite track on the record was 'Mosquito Bites'.
"I would like to think that that song was a benchmark for my journey as a songwriter," she said.
"It reminds me a bit of the first song I ever wrote, but a little more aged and less naïve."
Meanwhile, Reddi Rocket said the collaborative effort on 'Tangerine' gave him a "new set of eyes" for songwriting.
He noted that everything in the EP was done within the confines of their makeshift home studio, where he used a broken soundcard and a pair of earphones to cut the songs.
He also points out that it was a "pretty raw" and "fun" experience to create the sonic and visual aspects of ‘Tangerine’.
"It was all very DIY. We didn't have proper studio equipment, most of our recordings were raw, unfiltered, and unpolished," he added.
"There was a lot of time to think and reflect so a lot of the songwriting was diary-esque in the sense that we didn’t plan to write about certain topics. It just came out flowing as we embarked on ‘Tangerine’."
With the release of 'Tangerine', the multi-talented Reddi Rocket, who has remained mostly behind-the-scenes in the past, is tipped to carve a name for himself as an emerging vocalist in Malaysia, and has reinvented himself to face the ever-changing landscape of the music industry.
Previously, Reddi Rocket has had studio and DJ-ing experience, including opening for English duo Bondax and Soulection’s Andre Power and StarRo.
When it comes to his favourite track on the record, Reddi Rocket said it was 'Please You'.
"This song is an accomplishment for me due to the fact that a lot of my thought process in writing is usually left hanging somewhere in the middle," he said.
"When ‘Please You’ was finished, I had a chance to look back at it and realised that it was something I needed to say and close a chapter on, which I finally did."
Listen to 'Tangerine' with this link: https://orcd.co/tangerine-ep. – The Vibes, December 6, 2020
