Kevin Bronson on June 15th, 2023

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Maria Taylor and Mike Bloom go back a long way. Both orbited the Saddle Creek Records star in the early 2000s, with Taylor’s Azure Ray releasing music on the label and Bloom playing with Rilo Kiley on record and on tour in that era.

Taylor has gone on to release seven solo albums and establish her own label, Flower Moon Records. Bloom, a producer, songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist, co-founded the Elected, has worked with the likes of Jenny Lewis, Julian Casablancas, Jonathan Wilson and Johnathan Rice, has done work for film and released a solo album.

Together, Taylor and Bloom are now HAHA, doing music that’s unlike most of their respective catalogs.

The project’s first single, “Only Gets Better” (which features Pete Thomas on drums), bubbles with electro energy, harmonized boy/girl vocals waxing sanguine (of all things) about the future.

Bloom says of the collaboration: “We came together on what became this cohesive vision almost by accident, after years of being friends. A seemingly endless feedback loop of inspiration followed, and we were jumping over ourselves to get ideas down. These songs seemed to take on their own respective shapes and identities, likely in ways we never would have discovered on our own or with anyone else.

“[‘Only Gets Better’] started the fire and so it only seemed right to give it air before the others. It is a mission statement for a possible future, a toast to the immediate past, and an urgency for right now.”

“I’m waiting for the dream where I’m flying,” they sing. A laughing matter? We think not.

||| Stream: Only Gets Better”