New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Pop visionary BONZIE has released her new single and video "Do You Know Who I Am" from her upcoming fourth studio album, When I Found The Trap Door, out independently October 18. A sprawling pop fantasia which includes an orchestral section arranged by Bright Eyes'
Nathaniel Walcott and electronic percussion from SML's Jeremiah Chiu, "Do You Know Who I Am" takes on the nebulous nature of identity and arrives alongside a mesmerizingly ethereal music video.
"I feel we're all on a journey - until the clock runs out - to convince the world of our identities," shares BONZIE on the new single. "There is a certain sense of desperation to both hold onto that identity and also distribute it. I don't think social media started this - I think humans have always been this way - but perhaps we see the phenomenon more clearly and obviously through social media. It's neither good nor bad; it's just the nature of the journey we're all on. What does it mean to be authentically 'ourselves' amidst the pressures of conforming to expectations of our society and culture? Who are we to other people? How does that affect who we are to ourselves? Do you know who I am; will you believe it in time?"
"Do You Know Who I Am" follows the release of the album's lead single "The Point Of No Return," a delicate, intricately layered soundscape about letting go of the little things while also holding onto the people most essential, which appeared on Apple's New In Alternative playlist.
To celebrate the release of When I Found The Trap Door, BONZIE has also announced a special pre-release performance for Tuesday, October 1st at Permanent Records in Los Angeles with support from Lovgirl.
Produced and written solely by BONZIE and mixed with the help of multi-GRAMMY winner Michael Brauer (Coldplay, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan), When I Found The Trap Door stands as a testament to BONZIE's unwavering artistry and marks a significant milestone in her career, which began with her debut album at the age of 15.
Taking the reins on When I Found The Trap Door despite the pressures of the industry, BONZIE mined inspiration from an array of eclectic sources, including the psychedelic sci-fi of Satoshi Kon's Paprika and the elemental folk/blues of guitarist
Elizabeth Cotton, before dreaming up each track in her home studio to blur the lines between reality and fantasy with a selection of songs that endlessly follow their own dazzling dream logic. Recorded in part at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio in
Chicago and Hollywood's EastWest Studios, where she worked with a full orchestra helmed by Anthony Parnther (Oppenheimer, Avatar,
Black Panther), When I Found The Trap Door captures BONZIE's commitment to creative autonomy and her emphatic belief that we're in control of our own destinies.
Earning critical praise from The New York Times, Vogue, SPIN, i-D Magazine, American Songwriter, Earmilk, and more, as well as NPR, who called her "brilliantly talented," BONZIE has been making waves for her infinitely shapeshifting artistry since debuting in 2013. When I Found The Trap Door marks the follow-up to BONZIE's acclaimed 2021 album Reincarnation - which included the hit lead single "alone," praised by NPR's Bob Boilen in All Songs Considered and deemed one of the "Best Songs of 2020" by The New York Times - and her recent standalone singles "Citrus" and "Spiritual Violence."
When I Found The Trap Door Track List:
Do You Know Who I Am
The Point of No Return
Hollywood
lavalamp
Sanctioned Gold Buoy
This Is Not Real
The Simplest Choice
Thin Illusions
The Only Thing Left
Isn't It Funny
An artist whose sonic vocabulary encompasses a vast expanse of genres and styles - art-pop, post-rock, freak-folk, jazz, electro, alt-R&B, and more - BONZIE aka Nina Ferraro is a Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, who has reached an extraordinary level of success for an independent musician. A resolutely self-reliant artist who taught herself to play guitar at age nine, BONZIE first arrived on the musical landscape as a teenager with her 2013 debut album Rift Into the Secret of Things and partly attributes the fluidity of her musical expression to her time spent in the more experimental end of Chicago's jazz scene during her formative years. Endlessly finding new forms of expressing her vast imagination both in the studio and on stage during her acclaimed live shows, BONZIE's last album, Reincarnation, was co-produced by BONZIE alongside DJ Camper (Jay-Z, Big Sean, John Legend, Teyana Taylor) and continued to redefine the limits of her musicality, alchemizing elements of electro-pop, art-rock, and even gospel music, to create a listening experience not unlike lucid dreaming.