17 March 2023 - 0 Comments

Pōneke-based Deva Mahal has today released her passionately bold and undeniably emotive new EP, Future Classic: Vol 1 – Classic.

Listen to Future Classic: Vol 1 – Classic HERE / HERE

The six-track EP is a powerful piece of work; showcasing Deva’s strength yet vulnerability as a songwriter, her skill as a producer and her talent as a vocalist. The music evokes incredible emotion full of both joy and pain. Future Classic: Vol 1 – Classic channels into her music the staggering heartbreak of the current racial violence and political injustices of her country of origin, the eternal endeavour to search for true love and self-worth, and her emboldened sense of the sensuality, softness and power as a Black woman.

“I needed to open the record by making it clear where I stand when it comes my Black culture, women’s rights and racial injustice, because the world is asking us to stand up and stand for something,” says Deva.

“This is what the opening track Will Anything Change is about, which is a collaboration with one of my favourite artists and producers, Mara TK, as well as my partner in crime Chris Wethey.”

Another new unreleased song, Worthy, is full of soul and power; using it’s disco inspired dance production to operate from the perspective that you already are worthy. On Read, is a letter Deva wrote to someone which “hits hard and has teeth, but has a lot of space and restraint. It might be my favourite track on the EP.”

These three new tracks join a string of previously released singles. Run Me Through, the first single released off the EP, reached #3 on the New Zealand Alternative Radio Charts and premiered alongside its striking music video. I Want You (For All Time) has clocked an impressive 200k streams on Spotify alone since its initial release in November 2022, and comes with a gorgeous music video of its own. In Travel With Me, the most recent single, audiences get to witness Deva’s magic in the studio with an intimately shot video.

Unequivocally one of our most astounding recording and touring artists, Deva Mahal was born with blues in her blood. Beginning from her upbringing in Hawaii to discovering her voice in New Zealand. Deva has spent the last few years in Aotearoa following a massive surgery and the devastating Covid-19 pandemic taking that time to delve deeper into her craft as a composer as well as cultivating her skills as a producer, alongside Christchurch born, Chris Wethey.

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