One to watch: Agaama

Birmingham composer, singer and producer Agaama (the alter ego of Cassandra Gurling) makes poised, breathy music. Her vocals teem with emotion over dense instrumentals that reverberate with an undercurrent of darkness. She cites Sarah Vaughan and the Iranian Dutch songwriter Sevdaliza as influences, but it’s telling that the British Jamaican artist also loves the US rock band Tool.

Agaama grew up listening to her parents’ classical and jazz records while forming her own bond to heavier sounds. She learned to sing at theatre school and later picked up trombone. As a teenager she performed in metal bands, moshed at gigs, went to UK bass music and dubstep nights and danced to hefty sound systems. Her 2020 debut EP, Safe in Noise, felt straightforwardly indebted to jazz and classical, with affecting choral harmonies and deft horn arrangements, albeit with nods to a slightly off-kilter soundworld.

Agaama’s forthcoming second EP, Wandering Worlds, finds her stepping into an increasingly experimental realm, with juddering basslines, cascading electronics and warm brushes of horns. Her vocal harmonies flit between bold and rich and something more intangible and wispy. Introspective but hopeful, it’s an enveloping, generous listen that feels full of promise.

Agaama’s Wandering Worlds is out on 15 September via State51