PREMIERE: Nicco Homaili's moody, intoxicating album Late Night Doppelgänger

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PREMIERE: Nicco Homaili's moody, intoxicating album Late Night Doppelgänger

"Sleep through day, then we play all through the late night", goes the hook of 'through the late night', Travis Scott's ode to nocturnal thrills. The more enticing pleasures that come with the setting of the sun is one of the most immortal tropes of nighttime in pop culture. But that's just one side of the coin.

As the sky blackens, one turns inward, tapping into a sense of solitude that is simultaneously cerebral, liberating, frustrating and utterly existential. That is the kind of night that Nicco Homaili tips his hat to on his new album Late Night Doppelgänger.

Today, the Singaporean rapper, producer, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist turns in a full-length serving of what it means to be alone in your room late at night – that time of day when your head teems with all voices in your head from all the thoughts you're having about all manner of things. That's what makes this project so vital. The topics here are broad. But its charm is that whether he's looking within and searching/interrogating himself, or casting his uncompromising glare at a society run amok with superficiality, his tone is sincerely personal.

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Then, there are the beats. The production is a velvety mesh of percolating beats, surreal textures with a bewitching shimmer, deep swells of bass and throbbing rhythms.  

In an official release, Nicco offered this statement about the album's genesis: "Late Night Doppelgänger is a product of the nocturnal part of me that feeds on my overthinking thoughts.  I write best at night when I’m alone because it’s easier to put myself in the doppelgänger’s perspective. Primarily, the songs are my answers and comfort zones I find solace in. It’s a medium of letting go of the deep thoughts and doubts that only lead to negative vibes".

Look out for previously shared singles 'Doppelgänger', which earned a spot on Spotify’s New Music Friday International playlist and the devastating 'Dots in a Dot'.

Listen to it below.