August 08 has returned with SEASICK, his two-part album project available via ALLEL/Def Jam Recordings. August 08 is the first signing to ALLEL Sound, the new label venture from six-time GRAMMY-nominated multi-platinum Def Jam labelmate Jhené Aiko.
SEASICK includes the tracks “500 Days,” “Keep Me Around,” and “Water Sign” featuring Jhené Aiko. the genre-bending LA-based artist has garnered critical acclaim for his work with 88 Rising, along with the release of his debut EP Towards The Sun and follow-up EP Towards The Moon.
SEASICK takes listeners through a thematic arc tracking the emotional journey that comes with a relationship’s demise. Through every phase along the way, August employs his delicately powerful tenor and spurts of wounded falsetto to make music that feels deeply vulnerable. He distills tender memories of fractured romance and coming-of-age trauma through a glittering, shapeshifting mix of sounds that include dreamy folk, lush R&B, simmering rock, and otherworldly experiments that defy categorization altogether.
In February, August took over MTV’s Instagram for a live jam session that included “Keep Me Around.” The song, with its diverse, emotional, and powerful sound, “speaks to the willingly complicated dynamic in relationships,” August said. “That beautifully painful confusion. That piece of fear we all have as we dive into trusting someone new, even though we know, with every fiber of our being, that we could be either hurt or fall madly in love. I wanted to express each side and feel every feeling. As I take my steps to grow, this song speaks to the journey to happiness.
In addition to working on his album project, August 08 took a side trip to collaborate with Amazon Originals on a shimmering, soaring version of “Retrograde” by James Blake. The track (released December 2021) can be heard on Amazon Music’s PRSM playlist, which spotlights undefined sounds by some of today’s most talented Black artists.