Alisa Xayalith has launched her solo career with High Fidelity. Drenched in Californian sunshine, it’s a romantic pop fantasy.
Best known as a founding member of Auckland indietronica icons, The Naked and Famous, Alisa Xayalith has just released her debut solo single, High Fidelity.
With shimmering retro synths and powerhouse vocals front and centre, it blooms with romantic colours. The accompanying video mirrors the lyrical reveries of Xayalith, making a star of the Californian landscape.
Alisa Xayalith notes that “this project has given me permission to explore and write love songs the way I’ve always wanted to.” And there’s little doubt that she’s wearing her emotions on her sleeve in her debut single.
She enlisted Sophie Hintze, Doug Schadt, Tyler Spry, and Simon Oscroft to collaborate with her on the songwriting and production of High Fidelity, but Covid restrictions meant that the track was largely created in isolation.
Perhaps as a reaction to those oppressive conditions, High Fidelity embodies an atmosphere of abandon. Its ethereal synth arpeggios are met with chugging bass lines and drum grooves. These sounds flow into euphoric choruses that feature Xayalith’s angelic vocals on a bed of acoustic strums.
The video, shot in the old cowboy movie location of Lone Pine, California, is a cornucopia. Desert scenes and pastel colours abound, all given a soft, dreamy glow on account of being shot on 16 mm film stock. If this world is a sign of further things to come from Alisa Xayalith, fans should be excited.
High Fidelity is out now. Watch the stunning video below:
