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Live Review: Lil Halima crafts a warm hug of escapist pop on 'Take Me To Your Planet'

4 March 2019 | 4:27 am | Max Lewis

Lil Halima has dropped her sophomore ep 'for the dark days', and with it shared a warm embrace of escapist pop with 'Take Me To Your Planet'.

Kenyan-Norwegian artist and rising star LIL HALIMA has just dropped her sophomore EP for the dark days, a three-track exploration of the 24/7 night-time experience of mørketid (aka polar nights) in her hometown of Bardu in Norway. To celebrate she's shared it's leading single 'Take Me To Your Planet', a silky smooth r&b/pop track that hits you just right like a warm cup of hot chocolate.

for the dark days also features 'Hold Me', Lil Halima's previous single which saw her rocket to international acclaim overnight. For good reason too - it perfectly encapsulated her grasp of tight pop songwriting that doesn't betray it's vivid candidness, resulting in something that's as catchy as it is heart-wrenching. Aided in part by her synesthesia (wherein Lil Halima can see and experience colours through sound), for the dark days features incredibly evocative production, mixing the abstract beats of Outkast with the warm, warbly and melancholic electronica of James Blake, creating a truly unique and forward-thinking sound.

Merging a music-box melody with a downright sexy bassline, 'Take Me On Your Spaceship' presents a bouncier and more innocent antidote to Lil Halima's typically melancholy sound. It makes sense, since the track deals with a child-like desire for escapism, with Halima promising she "won't say a word" if she gets to go to this far-away planet. With the bass, Lil Halima's multi-tracked vocals and the absolutely stellar mixing, the track surrounds you like a gentle hug and doesn't let go, enveloping you in both the evocative darkness that inspires the EP, and the fantastical desire for another life.

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'Take Me On Your Spaceship' is further proof that Lil Halima is crafting a truly unique vision of pop music. It gets in your head with irresistible hooks and beats, and then stays there with it's clever songwriting and emotional tenderness . for the dark days is merely part one of a two-part EP, with the followup for the bright days set to drop later in the year.

In the meantime, check out for the dark days right now, out digitally via Dew Process

IMAGE: DEW PROCESS

Words by MAX LEWIS

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