Andrew Veeder on February 1st, 2017

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Amid the myriad of hyphenates used to classify or describe emotional, electro-tinged 21st-century music  — avant-pop, future-soul, alt&B, trap&B, whatever&B — exist artists that exude a certain sensuality in their music, and a certain off-kilter, unconventional prowess in their sound. The 20-year-old Egyptian-Italian Kidä is one such artist, one who moved around a lot as a child before eventually singing backup for Pharrell and studying in London and learning how to produce her own material. She may only have two singles out so far, but each are cause to perk an ear up.

“Bone Mother” is moody and murky tale about “La Loba,” a woman who collects bones in the desert, with a beat that sounds like trying to go to second base during a horror movie, and seductive lyrics like, “Thunder in the sky, lightning on my tongue / I don’t find it threatening ’cause I’m reckless and I’m young.” And then there’s “Snakes,” steeped in dark and eclectic sensuality, a la FKA Twigs, that fuses an ethereal backdrop with a glitchy and pulsing uptempo beat that flips its script and breaks halfway through into a haunting and harmonizing falsetto bridge that continues expanding with little electronic touches until its blissful climax. Her debut is schedule to arrive later this year via L.A.-based imprint Tireless.

||| Stream: “Bone Mother” and “Snakes”