Photo by Rob ChronAbout 18 months ago we premiered Samuel Proffitt's The Blue Notebook. A premiere is a Noisey seal of approval, so naturally we're stoked to welcome the return of the graduate student (of Russian Lit from Brown University, no less—super vocational degree, that one). He's a guy who creates dark-hearted, emosh soul-tronica, this time with a mysterious vocalist called SKYLR. (Poor vowels; they've really fallen out of favor.)Lifted from his forthcoming EP The Grey Notebook (out October 3rd), "Drown" begins as a sparse piano ballad, this chanteuse communicating her sorrows in some smoky basement bar. But Proffitt is quick to add his own downtempo electronica flourishes, making this song very now.“'Drown' is the only song I’ve every written starting with vocals or lyrics; it’s always been the other way around," he explains. "One day, I received an email from SKYLR’s team with the demo, and after hearing the recording, I fell in love with her voice. Writing the song was a difficult process, though, as I had no idea which direction I wanted to take it. I had to make someone else’s thoughts reflect my own, distorting and twisting the meaning to create something completely new. I really wanted to take this someplace darker, to a place close to my heart. I envisioned myself sitting on the train in St. Petersburg with my headphones on processing the day’s events, withdrawn in my own world, which is why I began the song with a field recording from the metro in Moscow."Press play below.