Back in January, Your Grandparents announced some big changes: following the independent release of their 2021 debut album, the LA-based R&B/hip-hop trio had signed to drink sum wtr, the buzzy new label already boasting exciting releases from Annahstasia, Aja Monet, Kari Faux, and more. The news came with a brand new single called “The Dial” which would soon be announced as the title track for their label debut.
With The Dial now out in the world for a month and a half, Your Grandparents reflected on their journey to that milestone with a recently filmed “Neighborhoods” session recorded at the Kenter Trailhead in the Santa Monica Mountains outside of LA. “It was a cloudy day when we first came here years ago to shoot promo visuals for an early version of The Dial,” the group shared. “A little vista perched just above the dense clouds felt cut off from the rest of the world. Quiet and secluded, a very rare thing to get on a weekend in a major city. It was representative of the phase we were in; the section of the process before we open the door, letting out a little bit of the world we’ve crafted so patiently.”
It’s one part of that world, “Ali & Jenn,” which they performed for their set, with co-vocalists DaCosta and Jean Carter trading verses over an instrumental by the project’s third member, Cole Thompson. “It was interesting to come back years later with the album realized to fruition, the once hesitantly cracked door blown open wide. The day was sunny and clear, cables and gear strewn across the dirt on top of shirts and crates. Kevin (our go-to guy for visuals) ran around with the cameras, pressing record before we lost sun, while I tended to meters, hoping to block the ever-present wind. We’ve been DIY from the start—maybe to our detriment, but there’s a certain magic to it that’s hard to let go of when the process started that way so long ago.”
Check out the performance below, and stream The Dial here.
