In a 2016 interview, LuckyMe co-founder Dominic Flannigan described the Glasgow label’s strategy toward releases, saying, “We are quite slow at putting out records. Part of that is because we sign artists, not records.” This long-game approach, which feels delightfully anachronistic in today’s industry, prioritizes development and explains why signees like Lunice and Jacques Greene often spend several years making their full-length debuts. Major players have unsurprisingly taken notice, and many of LuckyMe’s artists have been tapped by household names including Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Ariana Grande, and more for behind-the-scenes work.
Now three years after releasing Littlebabyangel’s “@Cartier,” a menacing, post-Yeezus anthem, and equally ominous follow-up single “GENEVIèVE,” the boundary-pushing label has shared Montreal vocalist and producer Stephan Armstrong’s debut tape exclusively through a mailing list. By foregoing traditional digital outlets, there’s an added sense of intimacy to GADA, which serves as a compelling introduction to the semi-elusive artist. He’s yet to give an interview, and his internet presence offers scant biographical details, but the 11 tracks here speak loudly for themselves without giving too much away.
Featuring additional production by “childhood friend” Cameron Morse (who’s also worked with Montreal R&B singer and XO affiliate Black Atlass), the project plunges listeners into a shadowy, hedonistic world, where intoxicated club nights bleed into sunglasses-and-Advil mornings. Over the course of the tape, he alternates between a purposely wan R&B croon and chest-boasting Autotuned half-raps, the latter of which lends to the most thrilling moments. “Bring me a goddess,” he demands over a squelching digital beat on “320k,” listing minks, diamonds, Dior, and Prada as his preferred spoils of war. The one-two punch of “@Cartier” and “GENEVIèVE” still sound every bit as ground-shaking, all rumbling low-end and glassy-eyed come-ons. On the former, he references Biggie’s “Party and Bullshit,” turning the carefree hook into something more sinister.
Just when you’ve pegged the singer as a cold-hearted, red-blooded Adonis, he lets his emotional guard down on “Love Animation” and “Crazy Mary,” dialing back the maelstrom electronics in favor of more atmospheric backdrops. It’s hard to tell whether he’s singing about one woman or multiple women, but the album’s sequencing creates a whiplash narrative of weekend after-parties and weekday heartbreak. The only break from the metaphorical storm is the somber piano instrumental “Supersky,” which clocks in at an all-too-brief minute and forty seconds, and feels like entering the eye of a hurricane.
The slow-building closer “Los Angeles” is not only the tape’s most fleshed-out song, but perhaps the best summation of Littlebabyangel’s prodigious talent. There’s plenty of experimental flourishes—the track begins with the sounds of birdsong and gently falling rain, and ends with a breakdown resembling trance—but the tale of love gone amiss at its center is a premium display of pop songwriting. Two years ago, Scottish producer and early LuckyMe signee Hudson Mohawke shared a demo featuring Armstrong originally intended for Rihanna’s ANTI, which would later become ANOHNI’s sweeping, war atrocities critique “Crisis.” Whatever form his next move takes, GADA shows he won’t stay a secret for long.
