Artists You Should Know: Brookelen Mingles Ethereal Folk With Searing Rock On New Single "Hey"

Los Angeles artist Brookelen might only have two singles out so far this year but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re poised to become your next fixation. Fans of Alice Phoebe Lou are forewarned: if you have a weak spot for the kind of indie-rock that splits the difference between ethereal folk melodics and raucously unfiltered sonics — you’re going to be hooked to her latest release “Hey.” Brookelen is gearing up for the release of her forthcoming debut EP time to go and to say that the two songs she’s released thus far have us gleefully excited for its arrival would be an understatement.

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With “Hey,” Brookelen continues to offer her fervid introspections on the complex and tenuous ways in which people find themselves connected to one another. Over the gloaming lull of guitars that open the song, she muses over the profound ways meeting someone and developing a relationship can have such bittersweet repercussions. “It’s a shame / That we have to have feelings,” she coos. “People are fleeting / It’s kind of a shame.”

As the track continues it follows the evolution of that relationship — sketching the heartache of its ending and the awkwardness of its messy aftermath. Like Brookelen’s first single “Hey” also earnestly builds to this thunderous finale, though this time it leans heavily into a far more brash and bold clamor of gritty riffs. It’s this driving energy that underscores the anthem-minded spirit of her music and what makes it so ravishingly cathartic to listen to.

She first shared with the world “Seeker,” a song that underscored her love of and rapt effectiveness in channeling briskly atmospheric and sonorous folk-rock in the vein of The Japanese House or Hazel English. Whether through her incandescent vocals or the devastating tenderness of her poetic lamentations, Brookelen’s music is defined by her ability to enrapture listeners fully in a gloomy dreaminess. In “Seeker” she pines over the incompatibility of two conflicting versions of herself: the one her lover projects in their head, a mold she has trouble fitting into; and the one that actually exists. All over a luminous array of folk instrumentals that eventually grow into a lambent tumble of jangly riffs.

“My second single, ‘Hey’ walks listeners through the all too familiar story of loving and losing someone,” Brookelen explained. “Each verse builds to an ultimately intense conclusion on the modern age quest for connection. The production creates a moody and warm soundscape while the vocals add a romantic, nostalgic layer.”