New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Sugar High, the duo of metal musician Kris Esfandiari and producer Darcy Baylis, share their debut LP Love Addict, out now via Dero Arcade. Early singles "Losing" and "Ugly" introduced listeners to the duo's unique sound, a moody, 808 shoegaze blend that perfectly matches the melancholy of current events.
Heavy reverb and hip-hop beats form the backbone of Love Addict, and the languid, sweeping vocals provide its heart. The lyrics offer pensive and explicit reflections on isolation, self-destruction, and heartbreak, made more poignant by the rumbling production beneath them.
Though recorded long before 2020, the LP's moody ruminations capture the uncertainty and unease of current events: "I'd sleep much better if I could" Kris laments on "Losing", the track that initiated hers and Darcy's artistic partnership.
"I believe 'Losing' was the first song Darcy and I started working on," recalls Esfandiari. "It has a special place in my heart and marks the start of a beautiful friendship and collaboration."
Following "Losing" came "Ugly", their second single and first music video. Darcy called it a metal version of
Christina Aguilera's "
Beautiful", albeit one that broods over self-disparagement rather than overcome it. The accompanying visuals offer up-close, unsteady views of the duo, who unflinchingly sing their sorrows back in the viewer's face.
Sugar High is a transatlantic collaboration between Brooklyn-based Artist Kris Esfandiari (King Woman, Miserable, Nghtcrwlr, Dalmatian) and Berlin-based songwriter / producer Darcy Baylis who has worked with the likes of Wicca Phase Springs Eternal, Georgia Maq (Camp Cope), Parv0, Zubin, and Fantasy Camp. The two met serendipitously in Los Angeles during Darcy's week-long visit from Australia. They hit it off and proceeded to lock themselves in a studio where they were reduced to their teenage nostalgia. What followed was a mutual diagnosis: Love Addict, 7 songs melding their seemingly disparate musical universes with neon '90s-indebted shoegaze guitar, booming 808s, and the pair's soaring vocals explore themes of intimacy, trauma, and addiction. Sugar High will be debuting their album through Australia / Los Angeles-based Dero Arcade headed by Jack Mannix
