Perera Elsewhere
Photo by Gene Glover, collage by Hugo Schneider
Berlin-based British experimentalist Perera Elsewhere (real name Sasha Perera) knows the power of quiet. On her 2013 debut album Everlast, her spacious productions and whispery vocals borrowed elements of trip-hop and folk to create a haunting new hybrid. With the follow-up All of This, due June 2 on Friends of Friends, the singer-songwriter pushes her stripped-back, sometimes menacing sound to even greater extremes — nowhere more so than on the 50 Cent-interpolating "Karam."Over a sparse bed of bass and chimes, Perera repeats two lustful lines over and over, her charisma and the minimalist setting creating a skin-prickling effect.
"'Karam' has a lot to do with yearning, temptation, and longing for something," Perera explained in an email to The FADER. "It's the promise of something almost unreachable or something you put on a pedestal. I recorded this song while I was living in Istanbul in 2015. I was in a place I didn't wanna be doing something I didn't wanna do. Making this song was a very dark and beautiful form of dealing with the world I was living in...a tiny protest. I somehow feel like this is my most "Burial" moment to date! Every artist has to have one!" Listen to "Karam" below, and pre-order All of This here.
