STARNAMEDSUN is one of the most enigmatic musical artists I’ve added here. I don’t know how to categorize this at all. “Fever Dream” (above) was featured on the essential The Wild is Calling at the beginning of February, and I was hooked right away — the tense vocal clawing over a noisy trip-hop beat is a soundtrack for walking a sketchy block at night, phoning a friend just in case.
It gets weirder and even more deliciously sinister. Toronto’s Ana Buzdugan is STARNAMEDSUN, releasing nearly 50 tracks since Feb ’24—two albums and a few stray singles — all of it self-produced. “Tooth and Skin” is incredible, but good luck finding it, it’s not streaming anywhere but Apple Music1:
December’s Eyes Closed is 30 minutes of sinister gold—kind of like Lana Del Rey’s take on House of Balloons. “Vines” is a standout: circus-dirge piano, slowed and playful, under lyrics that gut-punch—“You don’t like me yes I know / but I don’t think that’s right / drag me bloody through the snow / you know I’d never fight.” It’s haunting:
Her delivery across the record is distinct, but not repetitive. She often starts breathy and sultry, matched with minimal backing tracks, and as a track builds momentum and complexity, the vocal layers, increasing in tension and urgency, while also becoming more dense. It’s tuneful but not necessarily melodic.
It’s a hell of a vibe, and I don’t think I’ve heard anything quite like it before. STARNAMEDSUN can channel something like a lounge singer when she wants to. On album closer “je te verrais dans la rue” she sings in French, like a late-night jazz standard through a Twin Peaks filter.
Buzdugan’s delivery shifts—breathy and sultry out the gate with minimal beats, then as the layers start to stack up, tension climbs and vocals thicken. She’s not melodic in a pop way, more a tuneful snarl. Eyes Closed closes with “je te verrai dans la rue”—French kind jazzy, like a Twin Peaks lounge act. Her March debut, don’t listen to this2, sprawls 30 tracks, mostly acoustic and sparse—piano, guitar, and voice with minimal percussion. Weird cuts like “Late and a Bit Unsteady” hint at the dark experimentation to come.
With two albums and a bunch of singles in 2024 alone—over 50 tracks in 12 months— STARNAMEDSUN is almost willing herself into the spotlight: on “Famous”, one of the standout tracks from Eyes Closed, she’s clear about her ambitions: “No one on this bus knows / I’m about to be famous”. Hard to bet against that:
- fingers crossed, embed gods willing
- or This Tranquil Lassitude on Bandcamp
