Releasing music under the guise of awfultune, Layla is a bedroom pop artist with whom we’ve just become acquainted.

By Graeme Smith

Feature photo by Shervin Lainez

Featuring contributions from Jacob Bugden (beabadoobee, slowthai), Richard Orofino (Mila Degray, girlhouse), and Richie Quake, it’s her new EP split that’s caught my ear.

Grungy undertones and dream pop overtones combine in a heady mix during the first verse of EP opener scare me. There’s an emotive lushness too that brings to mind some of the scenes more experimental singer-songwriter types like Bon Iver and SYML. The combination feels beautifully unique.

AloneE pushes that uniqueness further with an arrangement that combines element of electronic pop and post-rock. Breathe. livens things with a rumbling percussive undercurrent that turns it into a mid-EP highlight.

!!!jealous provides a particularly pleading moment, combining doubt with catharsis in a way that will have you reeling. Urmybiggestfear closes the EP with stripped-back guitar and vulnerable lyrics. It’s quiet, reflective, and has a quality that will stick with you. It makes you want to start the whole EP over again.

“I thought this EP was going to be all over the place, with no structure and no rules,” says Layla, “but it ended up being the most cohesive thing I have ever made. I stepped out of what I usually do and let the sound lead me for once. It came from a part of me that needed to change, and it felt like unravelling and rebuilding at the same time. I let myself get loud, weird, and ugly, whatever I needed to be. Every track contradicts itself in a way that feels really honest, and that honesty scared me at first. That is why it is called split.”

I agree that it’s a cohesive effort, and the rawness of its emotional landscape makes it a compelling one too. With her new EP, awfultune marks herself out as an up-and-comer that deserves attention.

Split is out now and you can give it a listen below.