Max Bell is flabbergasted and blasted his Magnum PI
Love in the age of Tinder and 140-character DMs. Sustainable or a sick joke? How do you get closer? 21-year-old Jordan Raf, an L.A. based UCLA art major cum R&B singer/producer, wants to know.
After a summer abroad in Tokyo, Raf’s returned stateside with his forthcoming debut album, Double Negative. Today we’re premiering the second single, “Pages Apart.”
Produced by friend and fellow UCLA art program alum Toy Light, the shifting electronic suite finds Raf wrestling with the distance. Trading Toy Light’s Yorke[ian] falsetto for an assured mid-range, he attempts to sway a lover keeping him in limbo, forever short of bliss. His lyrics display as much pain as they do a prodigious writing ability.
The efficacy of the above is only heightened by Toy Light’s production. The distortion and percussive beat scene sensibilities characteristic of his solo work are here, but they’re subtler, softer. Really, this is one of his best suites to date, chilling yet warm enough to crack any frigid façade–a poignant aural rendering of the attempt to end isolation.
Raf’s songs “Asphalt” and “What You Want”, as well as his previous collaboration with Toy Light, are below. You’ll also find the GIF for “Pages Apart”. When everyone has artwork for his or her single, maybe this is what it takes to make listeners feel closer.
