Chiiild commenced their introductory campaign in September 2019. The Montreal-based collective dropped their first single, "Count Me Out", which earned them recognition on Pigeons & Planes' "Best Artists of the Month" list. For a debut single, it sounded impressively full-formed. It didn't show artists who were still struggling to find their sound, but ones who have studied the R&B landscape for decades and figured out how to bring their own unique contribution to it. As per a press release for their new song, "Hands Off Me", "Chiiild is a band that manages to create a sound that is retro-future chill out R&B meets psychedelic, equally inspired by D’Angelo as it is Tame Impala."
You can get a perfect sense of how Chiiild captures this sonic synthesis with "Hands Off Me". A breathy falsetto glides across stomping drums and staticky guitar. The thick vibrations of the bass communicate that this isn't just supposed to be a numbing R&B track. It oozes with suppressed aggression, the singer commanding "don't take your hands off of me" as if through clenched teeth.
Look out for Chiiild's debut EP, Synthetic Soul, coming February 28th via indie tastemaker collective Avant Garden.
Quotable Lyrics
Ask the Lord, he'll be our witness, yeah
We don't need to ask forgiveness
When you don't care who's watching
I don't care who's listening
