San Antonio’s Claire Rousay is becoming one of the most prominent names in ambient music, and over the past year she has kept her listeners well supplied, most famously via last spring’s acclaimed A Softer Focus album. This past week Rousay, who we included on our most recent Best New Bands list, released a new album called sometimes i feel like i have no friends, which comprises a single 28-minute track. Today she’s followed it with two tracks released alongside her longtime collaborator More Eaze, aka Austin-based Mari Maurice, a member of such bands as Lomelda and Alexalone.

Rousay’s latest More Eaze collabs, “same” and “hands,” are experimental pop tracks with a hyperpop tint. Both are categorized as “emo” on DSPs, and “hands” in particular earns the designation with its robotic hooks and visceral rock-band action. They’re the first two songs on a new More Eaze x Claire Rousay album called Never Stop Texting Me due out in February on Orange Milk, which includes collabs with Bloodzboi and How To Dress Well. On Bandcamp, the label describes Never Stop Texting Me as “a pop record. Melodies and chorus in every track about crushes, collaborating with friends, and the mundane of everyday life. Maybe the first mention of Bandcamp Friday in a pop song?”

As you might expect, sometimes i feel like i have no friends, is more of a meditative slow-build with a heavy emphasis on drones and field recordings. “How do you know someone is your best friend?” a voice asks early on. “Is it more of an innate feeling or more so a culmination of repeated actions?” More Eaze contributed violin to this project, while Emily Harper Scott of Pale Spring chipped in piano. A note on Bandcamp specifies it was recorded in San Antonio, Chicago, and Rotterdam.

Stream all three of the new tracks below.



The self-released sometimes i feel like i have no friends is out now. Never Stop Texting Me is out 2/11 via Orange Milk.

104