"Listen once and find the groove, listen twice and learn my truth," the simple yet powerful message of British-Nigerian artist sequoiia, who just released her debut single, "Turn The Dial".
Released via Club Salami, the song is one of those production-stripped-down examples where the music is a subtle vibe, while serving the important role of letting the vocals shine like a diamond. Sequoia's voice and lyrics are a centerpiece in this beautiful and very intimate track, which oozes rawness. In an age where we have so much of everything, less is actually more.
Lyrically, the song explores the disorienting feeling of getting lost inside your own thoughts while the world around you keeps moving. Drifting in and out of conversations, checking out of the present moment and struggling to reconnect, the line "can you turn the dial for me?" becomes a plea for help. A vulnerable way of asking to be brought back into focus, cutting through the noise in her head and reconnecting with the world around her.
"Turn the dial was born after admitting to myself dissociation was part of my existence. After battling illness, my body changing and life having completely passed me by for five years, I decided to come into the present moment and start writing lyrics expressing how that truly felt; the grief, Powerlessness and sadness. The words poured out of me in about 20 minutes. The song is raw because I recorded it with broken headphones, all I could find because I had to record it There and then. I chose not to rerecord the vocal with a microphone because I feel the emotions captured in that moment reflect my experience and I want to honour my vulnerability," she elaborates.
