Londoner Seraphina Simone has steadily been making waves with her unique perspective on life’s grit and glamour, with her brushes with the Californian celebrity set through musical father (formerly known as) Terence Trent D’arby bringing a broad palette of insights and imagination to her immersive musical stylings.

Following on from the fame exposé of Hollywood $$$, latest single O M D starts with ominous low synth line that helps her crystal clean vocal cut as it should, with her words about the struggles of being the sympathetic shoulder for a partner showing Simone to be an incisive lyricist that knows how to hit the heart of the listener.  Melodically, O M D displays a lighter touch of pop leanings than the moody sway of previous singles Cherry and Hollywood $$$, a move that continues to mark Simone as a tip for an exciting breakout artist in the near future.

Secret Meeting spoke with Simone about some of her own favourite new artists that we should be listening to…

Sakura

Sakura’s a Vienna-based singer / songwriter putting out some really solid shoegazey indie – full of texture with all these swirling chorusy guitars and synth pads and wide drums, helmed by her gorge cottony voice. I met Sakura when we were both studying music in London and instantly had that ‘she’s so cool I wanna be her friend’ feel lol. She’s really supportive whenever I put something out and vice versa, we’re like mutual fangirls.

Joe Connor Little

Joe makes beautiful, melancholy indie that hangs off his golden voice, and is paired with these really intimately done DIY-aesthetic videos that compliment the music so well. He has this incredible vibrato that kind of cuts to the core and puts you in one of those emotional daydreams where you flick through all the bullshit and mistakes you’ve made. I played in a couple of Joe’s old bands briefly, doing keys & BVs, and always had the best time – like every rehearsal and every gig I’d be howling with laughter. He’s super on it, knows exactly what he wants and is one of the best performers I’ve seen in terms of owning the stage.

Jessica Winter

Jessica Winter’s music feels like being in the belly of a club at 4am where it’s kind of pitch black and the strobe light is making everyone look like they’re melting and moving in slow motion. It’s gritty and dark and cinematic and pop at the same time. She’s London-based like me, but I can’t even remember where I first heard her – maybe on Hoxton Radio’s Get In Her Ears show, or maybe one of her ads popped up on my insta. Either way I’m now a big fan.

Spain v Spain

Spain v Spain are a duo making a kind of soupy fusion of different scenes – there’s threads of disco and hip hop and garage and indie. It covers lots of ground, but never in a pastiche or gratuitous way. They just have all these influences and manage to weave them in without it sounding affected. They release through Dislo, a label and music/design publishing company that started as a club night put on by Tom, who I met at uni, and his mate Anton.

Tyson McVey

Moonlight Mixtape was released a couple of moths ago, and the whole thing is like floating in the sea in summer when you’re semi buzzed and everything feels like velvet. It’s dreamy, lo-fi, soulful goodness. Tyson and I used to play together when we were tiny, like 3 or 4 years old, but then lost touch for years. Then earlier this year I played a work-in-progress night in Tottenham put on by a friend’s collective which she also runs, and we were both like ‘both our names are too random for it not to be the same person.’ So that was cool. I love how London can work like that, how it’s so gargantuan but can also funnel you back to people.