From deep within the Los Angeles underground sex scene comes the experimental pop musings of Sex People, a duo who revels in the viscous and curiously affecting noise created by queer singer-songwriter Knarfy and Nigerian-born vocalist F.I.T. Their defiantly unpredictable work finds an odd middle ground between abject lust and the pangs of honest affection. The music and voyeuristic narratives draw heavy inspiration from Knarfy’s own life and the experiences he encountered as he ambled through the vast Los Angeles music scenes.
But in the time since the band was founded, there have been a few additions to its shifting roster of artists — most notably LA native and multi-instrumentalist Al Dubon and guest vocalists Jules Lee and Anna Christensen. For their debut, the band conceived of a series of EPs which they dubbed Cal-Island and saw them released as three individual “seasons”. Working with samUIL and Hobyn Yi of Kairos Music Group, they shared Season 1 in 2019. The release of Season 2 was unfortunately delayed due to the actions of someone involved in the recordings, and Knarfy focused on Season 3 while still continuing to work on the eventual distribution of Season 2.
As a whole, the Cal-Island EPs are a wide-ranging experiment in genre-crossing and stylistic divergences, anchored by intensely personal insights into the difficulties and joy of relationships and the ways they inform our perspectives at any given moment. Thankfully, a resolution was found in regards to Season 2, and the band will now share both Season 2 and Season 3 in June. Clothed in the histories of rap, punk, R&B, pop, and electronica, the EPs detail an alternate lineage where these sounds were never disconnected from one another and where their rhythmic consummation is of paramount importance to their collective evolution.
For the new video to Season 3-cut “Sling Slang”, Knarfy collaborated with director Michael Basta on a vision designed to highlight the song’s innate emotional connectivity and how that can be so hard to achieve with all the noise and distractions leading us apart from each other. Revolving around the online relationship that slowly forms between a middle-aged man and a cam girl, the video follows them as they weave in and out of their individual atmospheres, finally coming together despite the hedonistic influences which threaten to derail their affection.
The music is a melodic mishmash of hip-hop and electronica, creating a sound that’s as wild and unfettered as anything you’ve heard in recent years. And yet, there’s a touch of sardonic awareness rippling through the music and the images, revealing an understanding of just how crazy things have to get sometimes for it to become apparent just how crazy things have gotten for someone who is so completely immersed in this kind of environment. Garish and unsubtle, the song is a warning to anyone who thinks they can navigate this treacherous landscape without consequence.
