If it feels like forevher since we last heard from Shura, that’s because it pretty much has. Six years in this day and age is a damn eternity, and it’s been that long since the English alt-pop singer-songwriter and producer last sparked our personal soundtrack and gave us comfort in who we truly are. Shura returns today (January 22) with a glistening new synth track called “Recognise,” and it’s the first dose of sonic seduction from her forthcoming new album I Got Too Sad For My Friends, out May 30 via Play It Again Sam.
The wonderfully dramatic and self-assured “Recognise” has us instantly falling back in love with one of our absolute fave artists over the past decade. And while it’s impossible to relay all the things that have happened since 2019, this feels like meeting up with an old friend and quickly rekindling the spark.
And speaking of timelines, here’s what Shura has to say about the track, which explores artistic identity and the selfishness of dreams before embracing life’s unpredictability and the old notion that simple survival is success.
“Arthur Russell sang ‘being sad is not a crime’ and yet somehow when I went through a period of despair in January I felt that the best course of action was to hide myself away from the world,” she offers. “I think ‘Recognise’ is a song about coming out the other side of that feeling. Slowly coming to the understanding that everything is ok. And that ok — is good. That I can sit quietly, read a book, sip a coffee and deeply appreciate being here and everything that has happened and has yet to happen…”
Welcome back to our lives.