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Music

Pause, Breathe Out, and Listen to the Debut Single From LL

On her debut single LL looks set to hold her own against the likes of Banks, Kelela and FKA Twigs.

Pause. Take a moment to consider your surroundings, breathe slowly in-and-out, maintaining a steady flow of air through your respiratory system. Get comfortable and put your headphones on. Ready? It's time to listen to debut single from LL.

Perhaps it's because everyone in the Noisey office is feeling hilariously fragile after last night's Brit Awards live-blog (which involved a variation of tinnies, spirits, and cava), but istening to "S A L T" is like wrapping up in a cocoon of cotton-wool. Even with its bass-driven and elegant production, it's comforting and enveloping. Yet there's opposition to that feeling of calm too, as though that cotton-wool ball could transfigure into a glass dome, shattering right from under your feet.

This confliction comes directly from LL's concept for the track. "When we think of pain, we often associate it to the negative, heart break etc. but for the destructive, broken soul, there’s actually a different kind of pain in healing and being loved", she says. "There’s a beautiful conflict here. S A L T is the natural metaphor to express this - it's used to clean and heal wounds but it hurts".

As an artist who has been making music for little more than a year, LL looks set to hold her own against the futuristic R&B contingent, surely set to be elevated amongst the likes of Banks, Kelela and FKA Twigs. Listen below.