Muna Ileiwat, a London-based, New Jersey-born songwriter has announced the release of her debut EP Twenty-Seven and it will be out on August 19th via Fear of Missing Out Records and the first single from the record “Pity Party” was also unveiled.
The percussive, voltaic opener “Pity Party” served as the catalyst for this latest collection. Inspired by an event that happened on the last night of her twenty-seventh year, Muna began exploring and unpicking the emotional baggage from those twelve months to try to make sense of where her life was going. “That year marks a time when I became somewhat of an open book,” she explains. “I had no time for people’s bullshit and decided I was just going to start tackling life with 100% conviction.” This self-assured stance is palpable throughout the EP’s assertive offerings, as she laments “I wonder what you’re looking for, acceptance isn’t here knocking at your door.”
Listen to “Pity Party” and watch the video for it below:
Hit with a sudden break-up at the start of the pandemic, Muna shunned social media and instead turned to more organic methods of catharsis. “I was trying to not be too precious about my songwriting or my art in general. It’s hindered me in a lot of ways in the past –– writer’s block that eventually turns into existential creative anxiety,” she says.
Recorded at Zig Zag studios in Woolwich, London, Twenty-Seven‘s sonic world sees Ileiwat stretch her creative muscles to create an intricate, saturnine setting that embraces gloomy keys, sauntering bass guitar – played by Abi Sinclair – and crisp, lingering percussion, played by James Luxton (Fenne Lily). However, this isn’t an EP that wallows in its melancholy––instead, it offers a measured and sometimes cheeky refrain, as Ileiwat declares “There is ambition, and there is defeat or a whiny bitch underneath,” on the EP’s stripped-down, lilting title track.
Twenty-Seven EP artwork & tracklist:
1. Pity Party
2. JOMO
3. Centrum
4. Twenty-Seven
See Muna Ileiwat live:
19 August – London, The Shacklewell Arms (EP Launch show)