zzzahara Unveils 'Hey Familiar Face' From Forthcoming Album 'Tender'

Los Angeles-based queer guitarist and songwriter zzzahara shares a new track, “Hey Familiar Face,” alongside a video. The new track is taken from their forthcoming album Tender, slated for release on September 22 via Lex Records.

“Writing this song, I felt sentimental and mushy inside,” they told FLOOD, who exclusively premiered the new track earlier today. “Sometimes things feel like an endless pain loop when you're being constantly reminded of a failed relationship via iPhone memories popping up – ‘On this day one year ago.’ And it's photos of you with old friends or an ex. It's takes a lot of willpower to not dwell on the past when you can access it so fast.
Sometimes we get so wrapped in being bitter while not recognizing that life is short. At some point I took on an ‘it is what it is’ mentality, but now it feels like I'm at a ‘wish you luck, love you, goodbye and do reach out when you feel necessary’ mood.

Big shout to Madeleine Daste who animated the music video. She really captured the zzz vibe of sleepiness, late night drives, and loneliness.”

The new track follows previously shared album offerings “I’d Like You To Leave,” “Girls On SSRIs Don’t Cry” and “Kensington.”

Additionally, zzzahara will be performing select dates this fall, including their first ever European shows—see full routing below.

Their debut album, Liminal Spaces, was released to critical acclaim via Lex Records in 2022. Of the album, Ones to Watch wrote, “The beauty of zzzahara’s songwriting is how brilliantly they take the mundane and make it magical.” Liminal Spaces features singles “get out of la,” “lust,” “gurl,” “cupid’s out tonight”—which FLOOD praised as “a playfully bitter fantasy about a less-than-helpful evil cousin of cupid,” while American Songwriter called it “mysterious and riveting,” comparing zzzahara’s voice to an “ancient secret”—and more.

Born to Filipino and Mexican parents and raised in Highland Park where they still reside, zzzahara is the moniker of queer songwriter and guitarist Zahara Jaime. Growing up in Los Angeles, they felt disconnected from Southern California’s predominantly straight white male rock scene and discovered making music as a way to process the experience of living in an ever-gentrifying city.

They became the touring guitarist for Eyedress aka Idris Vicuña in 2018, which spawned the collaborative duo The Simps, who released their Siblings LP last year. Following their solo debut EP Simp.Wave in 2021, zzzahara signed to Lex Records and put the finishing touches on their debut album, a collection of songs about queerness, love, lust, absurdism and feeling lost that trace their stylistic and emotional evolution from childhood through present day.

ZZZAHARA LIVE

October 18—They’re Gonna Be Big @ Supersonic—Paris, FR
October 19—Trix—Antwerp, BE
October 24—Courtyard Theatre—London, UK
November 1—Café Du Nord—San Francisco, CA
November 3—Substance Festival—Los Angeles, CA
November 5—FREAKOUT Festival—Seattle, WA

Photo credit: Kate Garner

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