Aarona Pichinson
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s featured selection, chosen by Afternoon Show host Kevin Cole, is “No Ceiling” by Haale off their album of the same name on Channel A Music.
Haale Gafori, or Haale as she is known in the music industry, is an absolute knot of varied influences. From her Iranian decent, to years of education spent at Stanford and the Jack Kerouac School for Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University, Haale has accrued a wide range of ideas and concepts from which to draw when creating her distinct sound. And what a sound it is. Gathering literary sources as diverse as Persian poetry by the likes of Rumi and Sohrab Sepehri and musical inspirations seemingly culled from artists like Alice In Chains, Haale has created a unique blend of epic, powerful world music. “No Ceiling” sounds some what like the more melancholy aspects of early 90s grunge artfully mixed with the Haale’s Persian background. Her soaring vocals, the tip tap of the African drum, and the moody orchestral twang here form a blissful dark ambiance that surrounds and envelops the listener.
You can catch Haale in her hometown of New York at Le Poisson Rouge coming up on January 9. Check her website and MySpace page for future dates. For now, here she is performing “No Ceiling” in Milwaukee, WI:
