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Sep 12, 2023 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Shaked Gorbatt

Early next month, Tel-Aviv-based singer/songwriter and producer iogi is set to return with his forthcoming album, we can be friends. The record follows up on the playful blend of psych pop, dream pop, and indie rock iogi carved out with his 2018 debut, the ceiling, and his 2021 follow-up, everything’s worth it. His upcoming record occupies a similarly warm and dreamy space, full of lush sonics and a gentle, early-morning beauty.

This year, iogi has shared the record’s title track and “slow step on quality wood,” his latest single. Today, he’s back with another new track, “6am,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“6am” effortlessly encapsulates the record’s aforementioned early-morning energy, steeping iogi’s songwriting in both quiet intimacy and lingering melancholy. The track is primarily guided by meditative keys, though as the song winds onward iogi also works in winding guitars and simmering orchestral elements. Meanwhile, iogi’s voice floats along above the instrumentation, drifting unmoored into woeful meditations and hopeful dreams. The track’s lyrics bring out the longing and lonely side to the song, but simultaneiously, the gentle light of hope never is far out of reach. iogi unites both sides of the track in a heartfelt golden luster, balancing the low points with a sincere empathy.

Of the track, iogi says, “‘‘6am’ deals with my feelings of helplessness towards the pain of others. When we walk around this planet, we get exposed to abuse and exploitation on a daily basis, and it’s so overwhelming sometimes that we just shut our eyes and ignore it. Our relationship with the world around us is sometimes based on abuse and I’m trying to confront that realization in this song. Even though sometimes it seems like the problems in this world are so big and our actions don’t matter, I keep reminding myself we are a part of an endless chain and if we want to make a change for the better we have the power to do so.”

Check out the song and video below. His new album, we can be friends, is out October 6th via Raw Tapes Records.