Dec 08, 2022
By Caleb Campbell
Photography by Stian Andersen
Indie pop singer/songwriter True August debuted in 2019 with his self-titled EP, cultivating a dense and layered style full of haunting melodies, written and recorded entirely in his dorm room. In the years since, August has been diving deeper into electronic production and pop songwriting, focusing on crafting potent hooks and a seamless meld of classic and contemporary stylings on his upcoming debut album, Breathing Room.
He has already shared the record’s title track and today he’s back with another new song, “Appearing Nightly (in this room),” along with an accompanying video, premiering with Under the Radar.
“Appearing Nightly” delivers on the pop promise that August hinted towards on his debut EP, delivering a sparkling mix of dancefloor-filling ‘80s guitar lines and glittering synth hooks. The track is undeniably an intensely catchy effort on its surface, but when you dig deeper it also bears the signs of a more melancholic origin. Wistful lyricism and aching vocal melodies lend the track an air of dreamy longing, adding a darker edge that makes it fit in easily on the dancefloor or in a more meditative setting.
August explains of the track:
This song was originally a downtempo dirge. Thankfully, it didn’t stay that way. Now, It’s one of the more uplifting, pop-type songs on the album.
When I first started writing the song, I was imagining a performer who, instead of appearing nightly in a local club, is appearing nightly in someone’s bedroom. The first half of the title sets up the expectation that you’re watching someone perform live music in front of a crowd, while the second half of the title relocates the experience to something personal and private.
The title is also connected to some of the broader themes on the album, like the idea of visualizing relationships between people as a real space and also exploring the ‘performance’ between people—the idea that you can never be completely close to someone.
Check out the song and video below, out everywhere now.