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Jan 25, 2021 By Caleb Campbell Felicia Douglass

Rapper-producer Lushlife, a.k.a. Raj Halder, has forged a varied career both on the edges of the indie and hip hop world and outside of music. After collaborating with Killer Mike and Ariel Pink on his 2016 record Ritualize, Halder followed with a mixtape, My Idols Are Dead and My Enemies Are In Power, and a 2018 collaborative album with electronica producer Botany as the Skull Eclipses. Since 2018, Halder has pivoted towards other projects, publishing a #1 New York Times bestselling children’s book P Is For Pterodactyl and entering into the world of TV. But Halder has returned to music with his latest EP, Redamancy, combining east-coast hip hop with an “astral jazz synth odyssey,” accompanied by the free-form freakouts of jazz quartet Irreversible Entanglements. His first single “Hessdalen Lights,” featuring Felicia Douglass of Dirty Projectors, debuted late last year and Halder has now returned with the accompanying video, premiering with Under the Radar.

With “Hessdalen Lights,” Lushlife levels up on the production side, opening on a soulful brass line as the trumpet and saxophone run together to create a rich and hypnotic soundscape. Felicia Douglass’s airy vocal melodies shine above flowing synth arpeggios, while, Halder grounds the track, alternating between a dexterous flow and droning chanted hook. The contrast works brilliantly, with Lushlife’s echoing production giving Douglass an ethereal, otherworldly element and his own vocals an emphatic intensity. The track is an artful introduction to Halder’s sound on Redamancy, as Halder draws fascinating beauty from its overlapping chaos. The accompanying video was directed by Charlie Anastasis of the rock band Liily and features dancer Isabella Fuson dancing gracefully through the San Fernando Valley.

“I’ve been a fan of Felicia’s work since her time with Brooklyn art rockers Ava Luna and more recently with Dirty Projectors,” Lushlife says of the track. “We collaborated back in 2018 on The Skull Eclipses’ single, ‘Pillars’ and the cut was a standout from that side project. On Redamancy, I wanted to focus on the production side, creating an avant-pop backdrop with a hypnotic modern classical horn figure underpinned by big room, dancehall drums for Felicia to shine on as a featured vocalist.” Redamancy is coming Spring 2021 via Fortune Tellers, the new label from Peter Matthew Bauer of The Walkmen.