MMM with Seylu & Ladifa 🎶
is it too corny to say 'we are so back' already? feels like it might be, but we are
Welcome to Max’s Music Mondays. My ~music discovery newsletter~ where I get too excited about songs I love. I hope you love them too. Your subscriptions go such a long way. Free subscribers help these artists get the audience they deserve, paid subscriptions help keep this thing running and also PAY THE ARTISTS!!! 2/3 of every subscription goes right back to the artists I write about. Please consider supporting independent music and music journalism(?) here today <3
Woah, that was crazy?? A surprise week off? Who saw that coming?! Honestly not me!! I tried my best to get something out last week but I was on vacation and spending some time with friends and family, SORRY!!! Thank you for understanding though.
Anyways - MMM had a wonderful week last time we were here, it’s so exciting to have so many new readers in the mix. Thank you everyone for reading, for sharing, for having such good taste in music, and for being so kind and cool and also really smart.
But back to business. This week I am freaking out. Two really thrilling artists that I can’t wait for you to fall in love with. Tap in!! Enjoy!!
Every song added here!! Please like the playlist if you haven’t already! We’re mere moments from 800 likes and I’m gonna lose my shit when that happens.
Seylu - Crybaby
I listen to a lot of music. There are days when I sit and dig and click around and spend hours and each path leads me nowhere. Those days are hard. Frustrating to be doing the thing I obstensibly love (listening to music) and not be enjoying it. Lately when I’ve felt this crush, I have taken a breath and reminded myself, if this leads to just one song you like, one inspiring artist, it will all be worthwhile. Seylu was the light at the end of this tunnel last week. And this song, Crybaby, is one heck of a light. I’m not sure there’s been a more MMM song than this one???
Warm strums of an acoustic guitar, wind chimes dancing in a soft breeze, some atmospheric synth slowly building into frame, like fog billowing up from the dew (is that how it works?). The room tone filling out the song too. I keep wanting to use image-adjacent language here - frame, picture, scene. This intro moment feels like a piece of art, feels like I can see it hanging on a wall in front of me. Around 8 seconds in there’s a new noise fluttering by. Starts like a flute but as it gets more involved I think it’s just someone singing. It’s beautiful and just a little off-kilter in an exciting way. Breathy and floating.
Now nearly 20 seconds in Seylu starts to sing too. These small phrases delivered with such sick tone, left to linger in your mind while the music extends out into the open space. Meanwhile I’m also back to thinking that flute-y sound is a recorder. Sorry for any previously misleading information. Regardless, it’s a mesmerizing moment. Each time I listen I get lost in it.
Beyond the minute mark, Seylu switches up the rhythm, filling some of that space with more lyrics to punctuate the thought. This lyric/silence/lyric butted up against another gives it a new sense of momentum as the thoughts run right into each other. Really impressive to get such an energy shift while the actual production hasn’t changed at all yet.
Until 1:16 at least. A ghostly breeze, a thin synth rising up, a wall of noise moving us into a new scene. The vocal stack is incredible. Each take just a little unique from the rest, together it has a stunning effect. Always a new voice that catches my ear, so much to hear each time. And as it builds to the titular Crybaby they slowly pull back and fade away. Left with one last Seylu in the back of the room repeating it one last time. Stunning.
From there the band picks us up. Gentle banjo, the most subtle strings, the wind chimes come back, thank god, some hardly noticeable birds in the background, that thin synth wiping it clean so all that’s left is the chimes until we hear Seylu start his car.
It’s breathtaking really. Whether it was the 1000th song I listened to or the first, this would’ve stopped me in my tracks all the same. It’s so fun and inspiring to hear someone making unique sounds with unique structure and a gorgeous voice to boot. It all just feels so special. I cannot wait for more.
Follow Seylu on Instagram // on Spotify
Ladifa - coping mechanisms
Another fresh discovery, I’ve been so excited to write about this one. Drawn to it so immediately upon pressing play. I loved the art too, thoughtfully hand drawn and wholesome. It rocks what can I say.
With the bass holding it down, guitars play off each other on either side of the intro. The drums steady down the middle, letting that cymbal ride on forever. It feels like the cover. It feels loose and easy. It feels warm and inviting. Basking in the sun type beat. The kind of thing you can get lost in, and maybe that’s the point.
Overindulge / I made a home of the fog
Ladifa kicking it off with a killer lyric, and the don’t ease up from there. A deep awareness, acceptance, and appreciation of having to do what you have to do to get by. As it flows into the pre-chorus, Ladifa is honest about it all - won’t call it strength / I think it’s / something like momentum.
Her delivery in this section is so amazing. Flipping from this reserved confession. Almost numb to what’s going on around her - but not in a monotone way, just this beautifully controlled way. Now, reaching out with more intensity and more emotion. Reaching really feels like the best word, pulling herself forward, out of this, with each phrase.
The chorus is the best of both worlds. The band uniting to bring more size to the moment, Ladifa bringing that emotion, more vulnerability back to that more tender delivery. And I know she says tender in this chorus, but that really is the perfect word to describe it, sorry!!! A lovely swirling rock chorus.
Into the second verse we go, everything on the verge of falling apart. Ladifa aware of it, and losing touch with her true self as she pushes this coping to its limits. So when that pre-chorus hits, and she’s back to a more powerful delivery, it really works for me. This time it’s even bolder, just craving a better way to live, better way to work through all of this. Oblivion is how I’ve learned to… really giving it everything here and it absolutely rocks.
Another chorus, not an excuse, just more context. Again the moment feeling so full. Of a great band and a great heart.
The outro balloons out - so many voices, so many layers, expanding and expanding. Like every thought in your head all at once, this internal enormity. So as the band hits that last chord, it feels like such a relief. A chance to breathe it all out. A great one, can’t wait to see what else is cooking up in Ladifa world.
Follow Ladifa on Instagram // on Spotify
Last Week on All The Other Days:
This week I wrote about the recent Maddie Jay single which is so damn good I cannot say it enough. PLEASE listen!!!!
Been traveling this week/weekend so haven’t done much other writing, but my god these new Remi Wolf songs are incredible. Been freaking out about Toro. Also with a few hours of driving to do, I went back to the Waxahatchee well and that record is so damn good.
New Noah Pope EP is sick. Mulherin is BACK and I’m obsessed. New Luna Li is so sick. This meija x hand habits is wild. Billie ofc. We’re getting spoiled right now wtf.
Ok have a great week!! Hugs!
Max