Jelani Aryeh returns with "Breaking By," the newest single from his upcoming sophomore album, The Sweater Club. A perfect blend of raw emotion and sonic innovation, it cements the 24-year-old Afro-Filipino visionary as one of the most compelling voices in alternative music today.
After a two-year break, Aryeh burst back on the scene earlier this year with The Sweater Club's lead single, "I'm In Love," which established the tone for an album that can't be contained to one genre. "Breaking By" maintains that momentum: splendidly nostalgic post-punk energy paired with an inquisitive, deeply introspective lyrical approach. "Breaking By" is a sonic departure and a thematic continuation of the album's general arc, an erratic but cohesive trip through love, self-discovery, and transformation.
Aryeh calls The Sweater Club a "two-year adventure and labor of love," and "Breaking By" deftly embodies that sentiment. Its dynamic arrangement, matched by his inimitable vocal style, evokes a sense of frenetic forward motion, like racing through a dreamscape of hazed memories and inescapable feelings. It's a soundscape both recognizable and novel, clever in juxtaposing vulnerability and defiance.
With The Sweater Club out now and his first-ever headline tour coming up, if "Breaking By" is any indication, his creative evolution is just getting started, and we're all privileged enough to see it unfold in real-time.