Tāmaki Makaurau duo PollyHill and Samara Alofa have delivered a luring new taste of their forthcoming collaborative EP.
It’s the pair’s second thrilling linkup of the year, following the otherworldly desire of “Alien Sex”. They successfully turn up the heat on “QUEERBAIT”, the second song released from their collaborative self-titled EP, which is set to drop later this year.
“Are you going to love me or mess with me?” Alofa’s lustful vocals demand atop a pulsating, club-ready beat, the artist consumed by the rush and turmoil of a new relationship.
PollyHill – who was named as one of Rolling Stone AU/NZ‘s Eight Kiwi Artists Tipped to Take Over earlier this year – and Alofa, who are longtime friends and close collaborators, left nothing up to chance on this release, surveying a selection of close friends in the industry to ask what genre “QUEERBAIT” was – upon listening, their fellow artists were baffled but significantly allured by their stylish genre-bending antics. Some responses cited drum & bass; some people said electro-dance; others thought the song was minimalist club, or alt hip hop with metal and jungle notes.
Both well-known solo artists in the local Auckland music scene, PollyHill, aka Paloma Schneideman, recently opened for UK artist and poet Kae Tempest and released solo tracks like “Pulse”, which dominated student radio. Alofa, meanwhile, has recently established herself as an innovative music maker thanks to her 2020 debut album Earth Punk and more recent tracks like the luminous “ILYSM”.
Building on the momentum from even earlier collaborative songs like “Void”, these two artists have clearly found a sweet spot of shared sonic language, blending hypnotic and textured soundscapes, much like what’s found in “QUEERBAIT”. Long may it continue past their upcoming joint EP.
You can listen to the song below, and there’s also a music video currently in the works. (“DROP A FISH ON A LINE EMOJI IF U WANT THE VIDEO TOO,” PollyHill teasingly requested on Instagram last week.)
On the live circuit, PollyHill and Samara Alofa are set to perform live at Wellington’s Great Sounds Great festival on November 18th, and they have also hinted at an EP release party in Auckland.
PollyHill and Samara Alofa’s ‘QUEERBAIT’ is out now.
