We’ve been enjoying the singles from nasimiYu’s new album Potions. Both “Watercolor” and “secretsecret” have showed off a knack for inventive music at the intersection of R&B, pop, and indie rock. The same goes for her minimal new single “White Lightning,” out today.

Here’s a lengthy artist’s statement on the track:

“How could I ever go without/ If I know how to go within?”

White Lightning is what I’m referring to as that burst of drug-like love chemicals you get addicted to in a relationship. The story is about a love addiction taking complete control of me until I finally learned how to manufacture that feeling within myself.

It’s also about how, within lockdown, I learned to really look inward for the things I used to seek out there in the big busy world. The pandemic brought me into a much deeper friendship with myself.

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This was one of those songs where the demo version was so much more full of feeling than the official polished version, so I ended up sticking with the first raw take.

I recorded all of the parts on the Wurlitzer organ in my living room directly into my laptop’s built-in microphone. Something about that instrument and the natural distortion of my crappy recording gear gave it this kinda retro rock feel. I recorded the demo vocals directly into my laptop’s mic, too.

A few weeks later I went back and re-recorded the whole thing using some really nice equipment, but it just didn’t have that same raw quality, so I ended up scrapping that and I decided to release the original demo afterall. It also has this fresh emotion in the vocal performance that is only possible when you’re still in the moment of a song’s conception.

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This entire video was shot in a very magical place called Mouzon House, in Saratoga Springs, NY. It’s a historic home that was owned by Mia Mouzon — a dancer, NAACP chapter founder, and the first African American to graduate from Skidmore College. She later opened its doors as a boarding house for visiting artists.

This home carries so much fierce creative feminine energy. Being able to create inside of its walls was truly a dream come true for me.

The home has now been turned into a beautiful Creole restaurant and live jazz venue by its owners, the Pedinotti family, who all work there together as chefs, designers, musicians, and waitstaff. The daughters of the family have adorned its walls with their hand painted murals of Mia Mouzon and her family as a way of keeping their spirit very much alive and honored there.

The Pedinotti family also lent many of their creatives to this production. The video was directed by Sarah Pedinotti (of LIP TALK) and shot by her cousin, Amanda Picotte (known for her photography work for New York Times, Le Wand and Refinery29.) The video also features some of their other family members dressed as gloved hand monsters.

Big shout out to the whole fam for opening up their doors and making this possible.

Watch below.

Potions is out 5/7 on figureight. Pre-order it here.