Baby, We’re Ascending: With Community and Collaboration at its Core, HAAi’s Debut Album Brings Together A-List Vocalists with an Exceptional Selection of Female and Non-Binary Creatives

2020 was a sobre, still, introspective time for many. For HAAi – the Australian-born, London-based DJ and producer – it was no different. For someone so used to spending multiple nights a week in the club, surrounded by sweat, strobes and dancing, lockdown felt particularly weird.

“Before the pandemic, I was playing a lot of really long sets. I was so immersed in music all the time,” she says now. “I love touring! I have ADHD, so I feel like I have the stamina to play late shows and go to the airport. So much of how my brain is wired lends itself to the life that I have.” When all of that was taken away, HAAi threw herself into producing, mixing, and writing tracks to compensate. “I would never have taken that much time off before.”

The result is Baby, We’re Ascending, a 13-track journey that takes you along for the ride – from hardcore, echoey beats to sweeping, colourful synth lines and bright, warped vocal samples. It seamlessly merges elements of techno, house, drum and bass, downtempo and pop-leaning electro in a profoundly beautiful way that is singular in vision. With community and collaboration being a key theme running throughout the collection, Baby, We’re Ascending features an all-star line-up of contributors including Jon Hopkins, Alexis Taylor, Moxie, Obi Franky as well as the spoken word poet and trans-visibility activist Kai-Isaiah Jamal. Additionally, HAAi – aka Teneil Throssell – chose to craft the album alongside a roster of exceptional female and non-binary creatives including designer Raissa Pardini, mixing engineer Marta Salogni (Björk, Romy), engineer/producer Francine Perry, string arranger Quinta, and creative director & long-time collaborator Imogene Barron.

While Baby, We’re Ascending is set to arrive on May 27^th via Mute, new single ‘Bodies Of Water’ – which follows her recent collaboration with Romy (xx) & Fred Again…‘lights out’ – serves as the very first offering from the forthcoming release. Listen here.

HAAi’s ascent has been swift from the start. After releasing a couple of well-received EPs on her own label, Coconut Beats – Feel Good and Motorik Voodoo Bush Doof Musik – she came out with Systems Up, Windows Down, released on Mute in 2019, followed by Put Your Head Above The Parakeets in 2020. “That’s when it all kicked off,” says HAAi. Baby, We’re Ascending marks her debut album and her first full-length release since clubs have opened again.

Over the past few years, HAAi has established herself as both one of the fastest rising young voices in electronic music and a figurehead within the scene intent on creating safe, inclusive spaces for all. From headlining the dance stage at last year’s All Points East to selling out a very special show at London’s Village Underground in November, HAAi has brought her showstopping sets everywhere from Block 9 at Glastonbury to Primavera and played venues as diverse as Circa Loco and the Tate Modern (where she performed at Prada Extends alongside Richie Hawtin, Overmono and OK Williams). HAAi also runs cult electronic label Radical New Theory with her partner Alice Pelly to give a platform to some of the best new and undiscovered artists working today.

Already one of the most beloved electronic artists working today, whose fans range from The Chemical Brothers to Jon Hopkins, this year will see HAAi move from being one of the most esteemed producers and DJs on the scene into a fully-fledged artistic force capable of transcending the genre. Nowhere is this more evident than her most personal and reflective project yet, Baby, We’re Ascending.

Speaking about the album, Teneil says, “Getting this album out of my head and computer is quite the cathartic experience.
Baby, We’re Ascending is a hyperactive journey, that feels like a real reflection of who I am.
I’m so proud of every second of it.
Of all the experimentation as well as the collaborators.
It was made with great love and care,
I hope you enjoy.”

Baby, We’re Ascending will be available on limited special edition splattered double vinyl, packaged in a gatefold sleeve with fluorescent pink ink, spot gloss varnish, and embossing. Further versions include sky blue vinyl edition, CD and digital.

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