Premiere: HAHA Invite us to dance the night away with “No Promes,” an intimate indie pop song
HAHA (the new duo of Maria Taylor and Mike Bloom of Azure Ray) invites us to dance the night away on “No Promises,” a stripped-down, captivating, carefree indie pop anthem full of midnight heat and raw emotion.
Current: “No promises” – haha
It’s about diving into beauty, while also exploring our tendency toward self-destructive behaviors, and navigating the ripples that are sure to follow.
HeyYour hearts begin to beat faster; We can feel the blood pumping, and our hair rising on our necks. Unspoken questions and unresolved emotions hang in the electric air, waiting for their moment to shine. The tension is palpable, and the excitement is at a fever pitch.
Listening to HAHA’s sophomore track, we feel nostalgic for a night that might never have existed. The duo invites us to dance the night away at “no promises“, a cathartic, captivating, carefree indie pop anthem filled with midnight heat and raw emotion.
I did not notice
Another in your place
How could I know
Until the next tide
We say we’re sorry
It’s a familiar refrain
A river running from
Dead by night
Oh, the slopes look so steep
We know it has to be
Promises that are impossible to keep
Atwood Magazine is proud to premiere HAHA’s mesmerizing new single “No Promises,” and here’s what we’re presenting Do The Promise: You’ll be bobbing your head and tapping your toes before the end of this song. Released on November 8, 2023 via Flower Moon Records, the second release from brand new duo HAHA – the project of Maria Taylor (Azur Raye) and Mike Bloom (Jenny Lewis, Julian Casablancas, Richard Edwards) – is an 80s-inspired thriller. A danceable pop song with trembling vocals, powerful beats, and soul-stirring melodies that brings us closer and keeps us grounded.
At the heart of this song is an intimate invitation to forget tomorrow and live in the moment. To enjoy a space of escape and immersion—of mutual presence, mutual purpose, and mutual connection—however fleeting or temporary:
If you want to waste this night
Oh that’s all there is
If you want to waste this night
no promises
“This song started out as an instrumental I sent to Mariah — a very small, almost gorgeous sound, like a John Hughes movie or an endlessly imagined incarnation of late-period Roxy Music,” says Mike Bloom. “In some alternate reality, it stayed that way, unabashedly and without mockery”. Atwood Magazine. “Maybe Maria would have preferred that,” he laughs.
“Anyway, it kept growing, as they sometimes do, and it became a matter of restraint in trying to keep the heart of those initial humble grumbles while not shirking embracing whatever muscle might be hiding within them. That, with some of the heavier themes like self-betrayal in The verses, and the opposing force of abandoning the choruses that Mariah led brilliantly, and the arrangement was over very quickly. The way Mariah and I make songs is often this amazing fusion of elements that almost act as foils for each other. I think those beautiful little sparks are so embodied Good in the DNA of this track.
Dark tourist
Skeletons have faces
You seek things that
Cities like to hide
Sometimes we show it
All indoor places
Sometimes the gap between us seems so wide
Oceans that seem so deep
We know it has to be
Promises that are impossible to keep
Sometimes we show it, all indoors; Sometimes the gap between us seems so wide…
For Mariah Taylor, this song represents a refreshing change of pace from her normal production – and another reason she loves this new vessel for artistic exploration and creative experimentation. She and Bloom introduced HAHA last June with the single “Only Get Better,” a beat-driven fever dream laced with urgency, hope and desire.
“This song was the next idea after our first song, ‘Only Gets Better,’” Maria Taylor says of “No Promises.” “We were only going to write one song together, just for fun. But it was so fun and inspiring, we knew we couldn’t stop there. This song sealed the deal on the whole aesthetic of the project.”
“Naturally, we just started drawing from our childhood songs — the songs that made us want to start making music in the first place. I’ve always written sad, ballad songs. It’s always been my way of dealing with and understanding love and loss and everything in between. The cheerful poppies that tie our past and present together are so interesting I think (Hopes!) The listener will feel this.
If you want to waste this night
Oh that’s all there is
If you want to waste this night
no promises
Our previous single made me want to take a long summer trip with the windows open, and this song makes me want to dance.
Rich, dreamy and utterly irresistible, “No Promises” opens the floodgates of possibility as Bloom and Taylor delve into beauty.
Tomorrow all this may disappear. The demands of life, and all the daily pressures and stress, may come back to haunt us…but for now, we’re basking in bliss, dancing the night away to ‘No Promises’. Along with drummer Pete Thomas, HAHA has us hooked – and we can’t wait to hear what this new dynamic has in store for us.
Stream ‘No Promises’ exclusively on Atwood Magazineand get lost in the lure of HAHA’s inspiring indie pop.
And words can seem very cheap
Mountain pile
Promises that are impossible to keep
If you want to waste this night
Oh that’s all there is
If you want to waste this night
no promises
And if you want to waste this night
Oh that’s all there is
And if you want to waste this night
No promises yaH promises
Oh promises
What a moment of bliss…
— —
:: Stream/Buy no promises here ::
:: Connected with Haha here ::
Current: “No promises” – haha
— — — —
Contact HAHA at
Facebook, web, Instagram
Discover new music on Atwood Magazine
© يرين راميريز
:: flow Haha ::
