ahaComa, a Charlotte-based duo, is gaining recognition in the music business for its inventive fusion of indie, pop, and rock music, which they refer to as "American Daydream Music." The duo of singer-songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Rob Losier and Hannah Finley creates ahaComa, a distinctive musical style that enthrals listeners and defies convention.
Their debut self-titled album delves into the intricate realm of emotional expression and personal narratives, encompassing various emotions like love, grief, hope, and contemplation.
We had a conversation with ahaComa regarding the release, their future plans, and the reasons you should listen to their music. Check it out here at IGNITE!
Hey ahaComa how are you doing?
Doing very well, thanks. We just submitted to play at a bunch of local music festivals, so hoping to hear back on those soon.
How and when did ahaComa form?
R: About five years ago Hannah and I met at an open mic. I saw her perform, and I was blown away by her voice and personality. I invited her over to play music, she was brave enough to show up to a strange man's house alone, and we've been making music together ever since.
Who are your main influences as a band?
R: I'm like 10 years older than Hannah, so we have a wide range of musical interests. I grew up on 90's rock music (nirvana), and I listen to a lot of jazz from the 50's (Miles Davis) and psychedelic rock from the 60's.
H: I had some early influence from my family listening to some classics mainly from the 70’s and 80’s. But now my music taste is pretty obscure, it’s a joke that I’ll name a band that I’m into and no one will know who they are. Pretentious but makes me feel cool anyway.
Sum up your music for us in three words?
Fun, irreverent, thoughtful.
What's your biggest highlight as a group so far?
R: We worked really hard to find our sound and realize that sound on record, so our biggest highlight is releasing this album and performing it for people.
H: Yeah, performing in front of people and for people is really important and exciting for us.
How have friends and family reacted to your journey so far in music?
R: Mostly supportive. A lot of people don't understand the journey of an artist, so their support is often 'surface-level'. But we do have a small group of friends who truly get it, and that's all we need.
H: My mom specifically is a huge supporter and will meet strangers and then show them our music which is pretty silly but super kind as well.
Congratulations on the release of your self-titled album. We're loving it! How did it come about and what’s the meaning and/or message behind the album?
Thank you, we’re glad you’re digging it. We used to rely on other musicians, engineers, and producers to make records, and we were never 100% satisfied with the result. We got tired of compromising and learned how to do it all ourselves. This album represents taking that leap and realizing our potential. "ahaComa" is that moment of transcendence when you stop living in everyone else's world and decide to take ownership and manifest your destiny.
What was the recording and writing process like for this album?
R: We're both songwriters, so most of the songs were written independently by me or Hannah. We wrote the last song, "ahaComa" together. We recorded everything in my home studio, and we took a couple of road trips to Nashville and New York City to visit friends and borrow their plugins and expertise to complete the record.
H: Like Rob said, it was a lot of moving around and visiting friends and also making time to meet with each other. We’re in a space where we have life things going on and it’s very intentional to get together and get recordings done.
How would you describe this album sonically for our readers?
R: This is always a difficult question. We invented our own genre, "American Daydream Music" to avoid ever having to answer it. We use a lot of live drums that we chopped up into loops, lots of layers of vocals, midi, and guitars for a modern 'wall of sound' type thing, and all of the songs are meant to be palatable and appealing to a mainstream audience, while also maintaining an edgy and dynamic sonic quality.
H: I think the term American Daydream Music is super important to us because it is how we describe our sound. It’s for the average person, American or not, to have an escape and a moment to Daydream. On the contrary, I feel that sometimes it’s easy to numb out on life music helps you hone back in and really feel your emotions, whatever they may be.
What are your plans for the rest of 2024? What can fans expect?
We're going to release a single in a couple of months, which we wrote together, and it's our favourite collaboration to date. We're also hoping to get a last-minute slot on some local (North Carolina) music festivals for late summer/early fall this year. Finally, we plan to release our next album by the end of this year.