Following on from a wave of impressive alt-pop gems throughout the last few months, fast-rising 17-year-old artist Cathy Jain has now released her hotly-tipped debut EP 'artificial'.
With countless outlets picking up on her recent offerings ‘cool kid’, 'green screen’ and the collection's title-track, 'artificial' cements her as one of the most exciting new artists of the year so far. With a soft Billie Eilish-esque lilt to her persona, mixed with the production of Frank Ocean and Lana Del Rey, her newest release is a broad and euphoric introduction to a name we are certainly going to hear a lot more from in the years ahead.
Speaking about her new EP, she said, “In a word my "artificial EP" is about authenticity. Together, the four tracks take a look at how we define what is really "real" when we spend so much of our time either in our own heads or in a virtual world online. With each song on the EP, I've tried to create a snapshot of a few moments in someone's life where they are thinking about this. I think that people (especially those my age) stress a lot about their image and how their life and feelings match up to what other people expect of them, but these songs have a more light-hearted, observational and kind of reassuring style rather than something heavy with a serious message, and this is reflected in the laid-back hazy vibe of the music.
"So, in the title track "artificial", I'm picturing someone who feels like their life lacks authenticity but realises that their imagination and virtual life are all part of what makes up what they are. I picture someone sitting in a cafe lost in their own thoughts and there's a bit of almost jazzy background piano to help create an image of that moment. All of the songs have this hazy, dream-like feeling but in quite different ways; more psychedelic in "green screen", chilled R&B in "cool kid" and a darker, alternative style in "i see us in heaven". I think the mix up in genres reflects the mixed up thinking about what is real and what's fake, and how we tell the difference between the two.”
Cathy Jain's debut EP 'artificial' is available to stream everywhere now through YALA! Records, and you can also check it out in the player below.