The simple power of DRAMA’s musical expression is matched only by their work ethic. Since 2014, the Chicago-based duo have bootstrapped a subtle rise on their own terms, self-releasing several EPs and mapping multiple tours with Midwestern grit. A multicultural collaboration between producer Na’el Shehade and vocalist Via Rosa, the project plays to the complementary dynamics of their pairing, blurring the lines between R&B and dance-pop, heartbreak and bliss. Following their signing to Ghostly International in 2019, they realize their years-in-the-making full-length debut, aptly titled Dance Without Me, a refined collection that recasts romantic tragedy as moonlit self-acceptance.

As a lyricist, Rosa takes her blues and makes them vibrant — rather than wallow alone, she sashays. “This album is dedicated to the people watching their friend’s love-lives grow and happen around them, and not having anyone.” Her soulful delivery, inspired by the improvisational nature of jazz and playful patterns of hip-hop and Bossa nova, interlocks with Shehade’s chic Chicago house-infused production style. His M.O: “I want you to feel the drums in the middle of your chest, down your spine, I want you to feel that hit.” The effect is confirmed in the live environment, where the two have tested new material to increasingly larger crowds.

Many of the songs on Dance Without Me began as freeform lyrical experiments. Rosa’s wistful sensibilities come unforced and amorphous; Shehade shapes the song-structures, often tinkering with them for months, abandoning and returning to each believing that music is already written inside of us, it’s just a matter of locating the outlet. He found the chorus of “Years” by playing the raw recording for his nephew and focusing on the words he kept singing along to. Built on an old school drum break, the track reassures from the darkness of distance and the push-pull of past infatuations.

There is lush lovelorn affliction blended into the tracks on Dance Without Me. DRAMA’s first record appears remarkably refined for a young band; Rosa’s lyrical candor creates expressionistic narratives about interpersonal intricacies all finessed for the club by Shehade. Here we see a lyricist whose vocal stylings are, not just complimented, but completed by a producer, and a producer whose genteel tracks are given a soul, however blue, depicted in a collaborator’s deeply human lyrics.