Thin Line / Once A Week

by ULTRA MIA

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	1.	Thin Line 02:53		buy track
	2.	Once A Week 02:08		buy track

about

Parisian alt-R&B newcomer ULTRA MIA drops her second release, a sizzling AA single constructed from slinky neo-90’s grooves coloured with hues of UK garage, leftfield ambient and immaculate pop songwriting.

Employing reverential nods to 90’s R&B greats such as Aaliyah, TLC, Brandy and UKG luminaries Kele le Roc and Ms Dynamite alongside cutting modernist production and delivery, ULTRA MIA’s style is deeply intentional and enviably singular. On first glance, the love of experimental music - artists such as Loraine James and James K - and the tape-smudged, subtly sci-fi sound design revealed in Thin Line / Once A Week may look at odds with the authenticity of Mia’s vocal style. However, with a capability astonishingly adept for a debuting artist, her music binds these cultures into a devastatingly effective expression.

Opening the new set, “Thin Line” unites driving snappy two-step drum programming with a thick, stepping bassline and ULTRA MIA’s beguiling ability to pitch her voice between vulnerability and power. Its chorus hits with the energy of a cosmic explorer zooming through space, gaining more and more speed with every reprise. “The song is about the loneliness felt in huge cities,” Mia writes. “And the need for connection.” Key lyric nobody sees you / they don’t need you reflects the disconnection of a modern world connected only on smartphone screens. Isolation and alienation are central themes, made achingly, startlingly real by ULTRA MIA’s delivery.

Switching moods, “Once A Week” is more introspective than we have previously heard from ULTRA MIA. Its sultry, melancholic flow reaches a beautifully orchestrated crescendo care of London-based string arranger Daniel Neal. “The song is quite sad indeed,” ULTRA MIA says. “It was written a year ago, probably the lowest point of my life. The song is about a desire to escape.”

Paired together, the two tracks announce the arrival of a well attuned artist, landing with an innate ability to push at the borders to higher planes. Future works should see ULTRA MIA challenge the likes of Tirzah, Abra and Kelela for the alt-R&B throne.

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released April 2, 2024

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ULTRA MIA Paris, France

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