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Jan 30, 2024 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Laura Lewis

Alev & Jas is the new collaborative project from singer/songwriter, composer, and producer Alev Lenz and Jas Shaw, one half of the electronic duo Simian Mobile Disco. The pair are longtime friends and collaborators, and during the pandemic, they began working together for the first time on a full-length album, their forthcoming debut, Bring Your Friends. The album finds the pair blending Jas’s translucent synth soundscapes with Alev’s dreamy vocal tones, playing off each other as the ethereal vocals and synths swirl together.

The pair debuted their lead single, “All Of The Weeds,” last year, and today they’re back with their latest release, “A World Beyond,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“A World Beyond” is a fittingly otherworldly lullaby, with Alev and Jas floating amidst a glassy ambient sprawl. Jas’ synths dance around Alev’s feathery vocals, each note acting like a burst of light and color in the track’s spacious expanse. The results create an enveloping hypnotic lull. Gentle melodies and dreamy lyricism intertwine until the synths and vocals feel almost indistinguishable, all while Alev intones an invitation to escape the confines of digital life: “There’s a world beyond your screen / Dream with me.”

Alev says the track is meant to encourage listeners to “practice to open other windows to the world and our hearts, our togetherness.” Jas continues, saying “Looking at your phone isn’t futuristic any more. Rather than ranting at the internet we can simply be reminded that it’s great outdoors, bigger than the internet, more wonderful, more connected, more futuristic.”

Check out the song below. Bring Your Friends is out everywhere on February 23rd.