Tempo

Written, produced and performed by Olga Bell, TEMPO is her third LP-following 2014's Krai and 2011's Diamonite-and features contributions from vocalist Sara Lucas and longtime collaborators Jason Nazary and Gunnar Olsen. "This record is first for the body, then for the mind," says Bell, who began writing the album immediately after seeing the film Paris Is Burning. "I started every song by thinking about tempo specifically, listening to the metronome alone, feeling it's relation to my body, to the pace of the day, the weather, the light. On fast days I listened to club music, most of it at least twenty years old, and on slow days I turned to early West Coast hip-hop and Portishead because of how physically charged and compelling these records feel despite their low BPM."