Daiana Feuer on June 17th, 2016

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Since breaking with her band Cryptacize a few years ago, Nedelle Torrisi turned towards minimal R&B,  illuminating her romantic thoughts through smooth lines and melodies, whether she’s writing about a person, relationship or something more abstract like a state of mind or being. Her latest album, “Advice From Paradise” will see a re-release Aug. 1 on U.K. label Tin Angel Records. Written in the wake of a four-year relationship and the end of Cryptacize, it’s a reflective collection of songs. She says, “I was frustrated at the thought of starting over again, because it also dissolved the band we were in,” Torrisi says. “The silver lining was that I was alone, so didn’t have to negotiate any musical decisions anymore.” And she could invite whoever she liked to sing along. The album features cameos from Dev Hynes (Blood Orange), Nite Jewel and Julia Holter, and production from often-collaborator Kenny Gilmore.

“Cathartica” sounds like a song about an elusive love, but it’s actually about insomnia. When she sings “I’ve made so many changes to get closer to you,” she is talking to sleep itself. Torrisi wrote the lyrics while trying to fall asleep one night: “So sleep is unafraid of me, what does it matter? I just get lost within the walls.” In the video, directed by Forrest Borie, Nedelle wanders around her hometown of Vacaville, Calif., on a cold day in December of 2015, singing live to the song’s background tracks, which also captured atmosphere, crushing leaves, bird, voices, traffic. Without fully facing the camera, she walks down streets full of Christmas lights and people going about their day to day, the countryside, the local prison where both her parents worked. She says, “The video is supposed to mimic the meandering, dreamy quality of the lyrics.” It’s bittersweet.

||| Watch: “Cathartica”

||| Live: Nedelle Torrisi performs tonight at Basic Flowers.