Iranian-American singer-songwriter Rahill announces a deeply personal solo project ‘Flowers At Your Feet’ on Ninja Tune imprint Big Dada, her new label home in which she sits comfortably alongside labelmates Yaya Bey and LYZZA. 

The album – which across its 14 tracks features collaborations with Beck and Jasper Marsalis (Slauson Malone) – follows Rahill’s nostalgic 2022 covers EP ‘Sun Songs’ and sees her moving along a journey of self-acceptance and self-love; reflecting on childhood and family while honouring the people and moments that defined her. The project draws on elements of trip-hop, jazz and alt-rock music, all underpinned by Rahill’s reverent and thoughtful lyricism. Recorded in phases during the lockdown, the album was created in close collaboration between Rahill and producer Alex Epton (FKA Twigs, Arca) who immediately identified the strength and potential of Rahill’s pre-existing solo compositions, some of which she’d written years earlier. 

With the announcement, Rahill offers a glimpse into the world of ‘Flowers At Your Feet’ with a new single “I Smile for E”, accompanied with a visualiser (created by Minh Pham with additional animations from Ananya Malagi) which Rahill states is ‘a visual love letter to my family’. The track is an ode to family and memory featuring recordings from her late aunt. Speaking on the new single Rahill says, “‘I Smile for E’ is about losing and grieving but also celebrating and honouring the ones we’ve loved and are connected to. My aunt Elaheh (“E”) was the rock of my father’s family and her absence has been really heartbreaking to process, but the love shared for her and the connection I still feel to her outshine the devastation of a loss from the physical realm. I still carry her with me, ‘I Smile for E’ is a reminder to anyone who is walking with that pain and grief.”

Rahill Jamalifard is a multidisciplinary artist and musician hailing from Lansing, Michigan and presently based in upstate New York’s Hudson Valley. As a founding member of Brooklyn garage-rock mainstays, Habibi, Rahill garnered a reputation for alchemizing an eclectic range of influences, distilling them into captivating and heavy pop songs that gestured towards the modes and melodies of the Iranian/American household in which she was raised—a heritage she has continued to nurture via successive trips to Iran. This affinity for Iranian culture and music is increasingly present in her emergent solo output. An accomplished DJ, Rahill performs live frequently and curates a monthly selection for NTS Radio. Her visual art (including a recent collection of so-called “primitive” crayon portraits,  I’m This I’m That I’m in the World) has been exhibited internationally. Her keen aesthetic eye has led her to collaborations in the world of fashion, most notably a live performance of songs from Flowers At Your Feet and “Haenim” (a track from  Sun Songs) for Maryam Nassir Zadeh's SS23 New York Fashion Week show.

The announcement marks Rahill’s first album with Big Dada, the Ninja Tune sub label which relaunched in 2021 as a label run by Black, POC & Minority Ethnic people for Black, POC & Minority Ethnic artists. 

‘Flowers At Your Feet’ is out on 12th May. To celebrate the release Rahill will play a special album release show May 12th at Union Pool, Brooklyn NY. 

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