New York collective breakkaway pair the release of their first EP with a video for the wistful new single “I Know” featuring Softcult.
New York City collective breakkaway have confirmed their debut EP It All Feels the Same from Afar will be released on 13 November, arriving alongside a video for the new single “I Know” featuring Softcult.
The track pairs lush guitars and pulsing synths with the breathless vocals of Jessica Li and Softcult’s Mercedes and Phoenix Arn-Horn as the singers mourn a lost love. Jessica Li says Softcult had been on her radar for a couple of years. Once “I Know” was finished she immediately thought of their dreamy, ethereal quality. “When we heard them on the track, we felt that ‘I Know’ had finally clicked into place,” she explains. “Their intricately arranged harmonies added so much texture and truly made the song feel like a layered dialogue between two people who were both feeling and suffering deeply, creating a much more complex dynamic than that of just one person hurting on their own.”
breakkaway released their first single in 2023. Nearly three years and close to 22 million streams later, the group are ready to present their first definitive collection. The EP includes the previously released singles “Portrait Set on Fire” and “Run Away with Me” and expands the band’s moody, cinematic sound across alternative, indie and shoegaze territories.
The title It All Feels the Same from Afar is taken from the closing track “Older.” The band describe the project as centred on the grief of outgrowing things that once defined you while still yearning for them. “It represents how, with enough time and distance, both the good and bad moments of coming of age come to be viewed with a certain detached romanticism,” they say.
Case Fadell frames the record as a love letter to the past few years. “We’ve all changed so much since we started, and this EP reflects that evolution in a way that is singular to us and this time period. We pushed ourselves to create something greater than the sum of its parts, and I’m so proud of this body of work. We’re so happy to announce and soon share this with the world.”
Songwriting influences stretch across music and film. The 1975, Phoebe Bridgers, yeule and Karmanjakah sit alongside the films Portrait of a Lady on Fire and I Saw the TV Glow. The track “Montauk” draws on the sci-fi romance Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, beginning as a dreamy ballad before shifting into heavier territory.
breakkaway formed in 2022 while its founding members attended a U.S. arts academy. Jessica Li recalls it as the first time music and art felt legitimate to pursue. The group also found each other. “The creation of music is an extension of our existence,” she says. Early days involved cheap takeout and movie nights that helped shape the layered, cinematic quality still present in their work.
The current line-up is Jessica Li, Case Fadell, Romain Dammann, Jorge Gonzalez Diez Gutierrez and Ethan Chan.
It All Feels the Same from Afar is out 13 November.
Tracklisting
Portrait Set on Fire
Backseat
I Know (feat. Softcult)
Montauk
Immortal
Run Away with Me
Older
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