Kevin Bronson on July 2nd, 2015

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On past releases, Swahili Blonde — the multifarious experimental pop project of singer-songwriter Nicole Turley — has incorporated the talents of an estimable roster of collaborators, including guitarist John Frusciante, Duran Duran bassist John Taylor, Slits guitarist Viv Albertine, Devo drummer Alan Myers, multi-instrumentalist Brad Caulkins (ex-Fool’s Gold), Laena Geronimo (Feels) and Dante White Aliano (Dante vs. Zombies). On her new self-recorded, self-produced EP “Deities in Decline,” Turley goes it almost alone. Only violinist Geronimo is along this time to accent Turley’s labyrinthine webs of rhythm and melody, which over four songs all revolve around the perils of putting people on a pedestal. “Whether they love us or hurt us, they become our gods,” Turley explains. The single “Discover Aurora,” written for her goddaughter, is a plea to embrace self-acceptance, a theme Turley explores further in “Magdalene”: “Maybe I’m not what I used to be / but I grow and set fire to the atrophy,” she sings. “Deities in Decline,” Swahili Blonde’s first release since 2012, is out July 21 via Neurotic Yell, with a full-length expected later in the year.

||| Stream: “Discover Aurora”

||| Previously: “Purple Ink”