For the Dark Days EP / Lil Halima

I love when this happens. Listening to one new artist and discovering another. It’s like a marvellous flow of goodness, and Lil Halima is indeed marvellous.

I discovered the Norwegian-Kenyan singer whilst reviewing Elias Boussnina’s EP Shameboy having featured on his single ‘13th floor‘. Further investigations of Lil’s engaging vocals revealed an exciting new artist who had simultaneously released her own EP.

For the Dark Days EP is essentially a three-track EP (minus the intro) and contains a future soul/R&B blend that’s hard to define, place or even quantify. Experimental and organic it opens with the haunting, beautiful and delicate ballad Hold Me. The undeniable quality of the song can also be viewed as she impressively performs it in the video for A Colors Show (below).

Track #2 Fire Doves also sparkles with a stellar production, melodic groove and playful outro.

As I write, the track Take Me to Your Planet is playing, as it has for the past 12 minutes or more. Yep, this went directly on repeat. The production and mix are tighter than undersized underwear and far more enjoyable. This isn’t a song just for the dark days. It’s for any day, any time. Its times like this that I miss having a radio show.

The 19-year-old singer transcends the impersonal digital format to recreate an enveloping and immediate warmth through the speakers.

It’s such a shame its also the last song in the trio, so I strongly suggest continuing your Lil Halima listening experience with an exploration into her back catalogue.

Her seven-track EP, with the unforgettable title and cover photo (!!): Love Songs for Bad Lovers (see left) – also contains several progressive R&B gems such as; Effortless, Bother and the simply sublime Would U. This is a highly recommended listen with inventive twists and turns in production and lyrics to keep you thoroughly engaged. The EP dropped 12/10/ 2018 but will stay fresh for a very long time.

And if your name is Jasmine, I now don’t like you either.

For the Dark Days EP  

Love Songs for Bad Lovers