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I hate calling new artists I don’t know much about “mysterious.” With so many acts today releasing music without any accompanying information, the idea of mystery doesn’t carry the same allure. And often, they’re not even trying to be that way. We just dub them so because the press release with their Soundcloud link doesn’t come with 25 pictures of them and an extensive bio. I mean, we categorized BANKS as mysterious too when she first emerged, and she had her real phone number on her Facebook, just sitting there for anyone to call or text her. She wasn’t “mysterious,” we just didn’t know her.
People are going to call Zola Blood mysterious because they’re new, without any press pictures and only have 40 likes on Facebook, but that’s reductive. Because Zola Blood put out a fantastic debut single with “Grace,” and that should be the draw. The song features waves of ambient synths and flourishes of percussion, nicely offset by ethereal, almost disconnected vocals. Details of Zola Blood’s debut EP haven’t been revealed yet, but if “Grace” is any indication, it’ll be worth checking out.
