HAAi’s second album, as its title implies, is a look at what it means to be human in an increasingly automated age, “as AI threatens to eclipse everything and our screens separate us from each other”.
With that in mind, HAAi – real name Teneil Throssell – returns to her songwriting roots, using her own vocals and further enhancing the human element in a series of carefully chosen collaborations.
These include her friends Jon Hopkins, Alexis Taylor from Hot Chip, singer Obi Franky and rapper KAM-BU, the poet Kaiden Ford, James Massiah and not one but two choirs – TRANS VOICES and a gospel choir led by Wendi Rose.
What’s the music like?
Humanise is as emotive as the story demands it should be. HAAi has a beautiful voice, and lends it to a wide variety of soundscapes that range from harder, beat driven affairs to big, spacious areas for contemplation.
Often both of these elements combine, as they do on the Jon Hopkins collaboration Satellite, the comforting lead vocal boosted by Obi Franky, ILĀ & TRANS VOICES, with glitchy beats and surround sound provided by Hopkins. The same ploy works well for Stitches later on.
There is a sense of melancholy running through the album, to tangible effect on the otherwise anthemic Can’t Stand To Lose and the brilliant New Euphoria, where Alexis Taylor helps lift the music to a higher plane.
Meanwhile Shapeshift carries an impressive weight while Voices is superb, powering through. Go is a really good slow burner, while at the other extreme the nippy Hey! races forwards; both examples of the variety found on Humanise.
Does it all work?
It does – the album is well structured, and there is a satisfying ebb and flow to the tempo choices and peaks of intensity. In spite of the many collaborations, HAAi’s voice shines through.
Is it recommended?
Enthusiastically. This may be an electronic album, but it is one stressing the importance of the human brains behind our automated tools, and what keeps those brains and minds ticking and alive.
Listen / Buy
Published post no.2,717 – Thursday 13 November 2025
London-based, Australian-born producer, songwriter and DJ, HAAi (aka Teneil Throssell) has shared the latest track from her eagerly anticipated new album – HUMANiSE – out on 10 October 2025 via Mute on limited edition clear double gatefold vinyl and limited-edition CD in eco card packaging.
The new album – an immense evolution from her acclaimed debut – reckons with what it is to be human in an increasingly digital world, as AI threatens to eclipse everything and our screens separate us from each other.
You can listen to Hey! below:
Talking about the new track, Teneil explains, “‘Hey!’ is dedicated to the unmatched human connection we feel on the dance floor. The repeated lyrics “can’t live without you” is a nod to my love for the club and the people in it.”
Hey is an immensely likeable track, with an immediacy born of the dance floor and a direct style with repetition of voices that intersects a little with Caribou’s more minimal work.
The press release continues: In all of her work, Teneil has always sought to conquer new frontiers in electronic music, and on the new album, she’s drilling deeper into the grid to deliver an ambitious and thrilling epic: embodying a sonic step up, exploring the sweet spot between machine-led dystopia and emotion-filled utopia. “Throughout the album, I kept thinking about a machine with a human heart,” she says. Where previously she’s been hidden by a laptop, or obscured behind the decks, more recently she was, “inspired to return to my songwriting roots and use my voice more in my own music.”“Throughout the album, I kept thinking about a machine with a human heart,” she says. Vocals are front and centre, stunningly delicate and giving a newfound dimension to her kinetic productions. “It took a long time to get there, it’s such a vulnerable thing to do,” she continues, “but for this album, it was important for me to allow this ‘human heart’ to be front and centre.”
The human heart has another focus on the album: unity and community. HAAi explains, “Even though HUMANiSE is about how the world is starting to change beyond our control, it’s important to keep a sense of togetherness and hope.” These ideas of community and a sense of belonging is of utmost importance, and she has returned to work with friends including Jon Hopkins, Alexis Taylor from Hot Chip, singer Obi Franky and rapper KAM-BU, artist Kaiden Ford, as well as poet James Massiah, who guests on ‘All That Falls Apart’, and two choirs: TRANS VOICES with choir leader ILĀ and a gospel choir led by Wendi Rose. But this is no clique, the community she surrounds herself with is inclusive, with ample space for the listener on a journey where you are suspended in dreamlike euphoria, drawing the most human part of you to the surface – the part where nothing matters more than family, friends, and togetherness.
HUMANiSE is out on 10 October 2025 via Mute on limited edition clear double gatefold vinyl and limited edition CD in eco card packaging. You can pre-order here
London-based, Australian-born producer, songwriter and DJ, HAAi (aka Teneil Throssell) has announced details of her highly-anticipated new studio album – HUMANiSE – out on 10 October 2025 via Mute on limited edition clear double gatefold vinyl and limited edition CD in eco card packaging.
You can watch the video for Satellite featuring Jon Hopkins, lead vocals by Obi Franky, plus ILĀ and TRANS VOICES, a crescendo of celestial glitch-pop that references early Kompakt records, 90s rave and 2-step, below. The accompanying visualiser is by Dobermann Ltd, who Teneil has been working closely with on the artwork.
Teneil goes on to say, “Satellite encapsulates everything HUMANiSE stands for: the importance of your people and the unique humaneness we offer one another in a rapidly changing world. I feel so lucky to have shared this track with Jon and Obi, ILĀ and TRANS VOICES.
This album is for my trans and queer family and our allies, to say thank you for lighting up every space you’re in. I will always be in your army.”
Talking about the track, Obi Franky explains, “Inspired by my father’s passing, I decided to write a message that I believe we share for each other. And this can apply to various situations for so many people including those that live far away from each other. Sometimes being reminded someone’s energy is there is enough to keep you going. We are all satellites and have the power to create a sense of unity, the power to receive and give what ultimately a human wants – love.’
HUMANiSE stands as an immense evolution from the debut, Baby, We’re Ascending, and arrives at a prolific time for the artist. Her BBC Radio 6 Music A-listed track, ‘Can’t Stand To Lose’ was reworked by HAAi and Tom VR and soundtracked a groundbreaking visual which premiered on the Outernet’s digital exhibition space for Women’s History Month. That was followed soon after by a collaboration with KAM-BU, Shapeshift, and recent (and forthcoming) DJ appearances that include Coachella, Movement, Glastonbury and helming her community-focussed night in London, UNiSON.
In all of her work, Teneil has always sought to conquer new frontiers in electronic music, and on the new album, she’s drilling deeper into the grid. HUMANiSE reckons with what it is to be human in an increasingly digital world, as AI threatens to eclipse everything and our screens separate us from each other. The result is an ambitious and thrilling epic: embodying a sonic step up, exploring the sweet spot between machine-led dystopia and emotion-filled utopia.
“Throughout the album, I kept thinking about a machine with a human heart,” she says. Where previously she’s been hidden by a laptop, or obscured behind the decks, more recently she was, “inspired to return to my songwriting roots and use my voice more in my own music.” “Throughout the album, I kept thinking about a machine with a human heart,” she says. Vocals are front and centre, stunningly delicate and giving a newfound dimension to her kinetic productions. “It took a long time to get there, it’s such a vulnerable thing to do,” she continues, “but for this album, it was important for me to allow this ‘human heart’ to be front and centre.”
The human heart has another focus on the album: unity and community. HAAi explains, “Even though HUMANiSE is about how the world is starting to change beyond our control, it’s important to keep a sense of togetherness and hope.” These ideas of community and a sense of belonging is of utmost importance, and she has returned to work with friends including Jon Hopkins, Alexis Taylor from Hot Chip, singer Obi Franky and rapper KAM-BU, artist Kaiden Ford, as well as poet James Massiah, who guests on All That Falls Apart, and two choirs: TRANS VOICES with choir leader ILĀ and a gospel choir led by Wendi Rose. But this is no clique, the community she surrounds herself with is inclusive, with ample space for the listener on a journey where you are suspended in dreamlike euphoria, drawing the most human part of you to the surface – the part where nothing matters more than family, friends, and togetherness.
HUMANiSE is out on 10 October 2025 via Mute on limited edition clear double gatefold vinyl and limited edition CD in eco card packaging. You can pre-order here
Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones’ Sunroof project is proving to be both productive and enriching. This third volume was released late in 2024, a collection of nine tracks is recorded using the duo’s Eurorack modular systems, building on the self-imposed restrictions they had imposed in 2021.
The pair delve into their electronic archives for material, using a TEAC four track machine picked up by Miller in the late 1970s, used for The Normal’s Warm Leatherette and here powering the track Splendid.
What’s the music like?
Consistently inventive and intriguing. Splendid is the first track on the album, and it crackles into life before the pair apply a booming bass sound. The music is simultaneously graceful, with some elegant outlines, and edgy in mood, a trait running through the album.
Brotherly flickers, the music behaving as though heard in a flash of memory, a half-heard dance repeated in another room. Ensnare has a kind of rolling percussion, liked processed steelpans, exhibiting a strong rhythmic thread that runs through the album. Stratus teems with activity, like an insect colony, then Freezer starts like a Philip Glass organ piece, given rolling bass as accompaniment. Earthen has friendly chatter like a 1980s game, while by contrast Link goes low in range, like a big cricket. Meanwhile Conspiracies carries a latent threat, evoking memories of Cabaret Voltaire.
Does it all work?
It does. The freeform approach that Miller and Jones take is consistently engaging and engrossing, and the musical ideas are teeming with life.
Is it recommended?
Very much so…with evidence on this third instalment that Sunroof are only just getting into their stride. More instalments of this series would be welcome, for the musical chemistry between the pair is evident.
Nine Inch Nails’ Alessandro Cortini has established himself as a solo musician and producer of some repute over the years, working alone on impressive electronic scores sich as 2021’s Scuro Chiaro or teaming up with Daniel Avery on 2020’s hugely impressive Illusion Of Time. His list of collaborations and remixes carries some weight, too, either under his own name or the pseudonyms of SONOIO, Blindoldfreak and Modwheelmood.
NATI INFINITI began life as an audio installation for the Museu de Lisboa’s Fábrica da Moagem, running across all four floors of the disused flour mill. To prepare it for this release, it was mixed and mastered by Marta Salogni, and structured into five movements.
Mute’s press release gives all the required detail. “The release utilises the Strega instrument that Cortini co-designed with Make Noise, capturing the ambience of the original piece – commissioned by Sónar Lisboa 2022 – where each of the four floors of the cavernous mill evoked a different state through Cortini’s sound design. Constantly unfolding as the listener travelled through the building, it harnesses the movement of the piece, highlighting the interconnectedness of all things.”
What’s the music like?
Cortini writes with a broad brush, the five tracks stretching over 40 minutes with slow, incremental changes in each.
At least, that’s how it appears on first listen – but further listening reveals more going on just beneath the surface.
The five scenes / movements are brooding, with II especially moody as the musical drones make an approach, gathering white noise, then retreating a little before returning. Here Cortini’s use of quarter tones gives the music a threatening edge, while on III there is a generation of more kinetic energy as the treble pitch wavers while progressing. IV takes on the spirit of an organ, as does V with its really sonorous bass notes – with close listening revealing all sorts of subtle crossrhythms at play as the wave forms bounce off each other.
Does it all work?
It does – and is most effective if all five movements are experienced without a break, in one sitting.
Is it recommended?
Yes. This is a very immersive piece of music, often calming but never retreating to the background, as Cortini gives his voice real stature and presence.
Listen & Buy
Published post no.2,340 – Wednesday 23 October 2024
Arcana.fm 