Kai Moa – “(Sea)”

I stumbled across the debut single by Birmingham producer Kai Moa, and it completely caught me off guard. The track is called “(Sea)”, and it does something really interesting right from the start. It kicks off with this echoey rhodes melody that slowly hooks you in. More notes and layers keep piling on until you are completely surrounded by a massive wall of sound. Then, everything suddenly clears away, leaving these wet, reverberant rhythmic elements that make you feel like you are standing inside a cave listening to water droplets. This track deserves your full attention.

When the vocals finally come in, they take over the whole track. They have this strong, raspy falsetto that carries a ton of raw emotion. The lyrics hit on that exact feeling of uncertainty you get when navigating online dating. It nails the headspace of doubting whether you are putting in enough effort, or wondering if you will regret skipping out on modern dating trends. The title itself is a clever play on the whole “plenty of fish in the sea” saying, capturing how lonely and empty parts of the ocean can feel when you are just getting tossed around by the waves.

Knowing Kai Moa has a background as a professional drummer playing everything from jazz to punk makes total sense when you hear how technical the sound design is. It feels like a brilliant mix of industrial textures and cinematic changes. Make sure to follow Kai Moa on social media so you can catch his updates on new music releases later this year.