We Are Loud Whispers

Sonya Westcott (one half of the psych-folk duo <a href="spotify:artist:26wNf74KJuJNrmWhkLSTMK">Arthur & Yu</a>) met multi-instrumentalist Ayumu Haitani (of the Japanese group <a href="spotify:artist:3uhB7r07bE72cDZdBTOxEF">4 Bonjour's Parties</a>) in 2007 when her band toured Japan. The two reconnected a few years later and began writing songs together via e-mail. Haitani sent Westcott fully completed instrumental tracks to which she would add lyrics and vocals. The process was not unlike that which <a href="spotify:artist:5yV1qdnmxyIYiSFB02wpDj">the Postal Service</a> used to record their album Give Up. The result is similar, too, with Westcott's fragile and sweetly melancholic vocals fitting perfectly with Haitani's off-kilter hip-hop beats and bedroom electronic melodicism. Fitting that <a href="spotify:artist:5yV1qdnmxyIYiSFB02wpDj">the Postal Service</a>'s Jimmy Tamborello provided vocals for a track on We Are Loud Whispers' first album, Suchness, which was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Hardly+Art%22">Hardly Art</a> in May of 2013. ~ Tim Sendra, Rovi