[Cover photo credit to Gabriel Moura]
New York-based artist Late Again (Rafael Melo) has announced his new independent EP, Clearly It’s All Staged, which is slated for release on September 2nd, 2025. Late Again is known for his blend of Dream Pop, Electronic, Indie, and Lo-Fi elements, and the new EP evolves by bringing together indie rhythms with the textures of his Brazilian heritage.
Clearly It’s All Staged spans six tracks that explore themes of “rejection — whether platonic, romantic, or professional — and the complex process of letting go.” Written and recorded in Brooklyn, the EP is co-produced by longtime friend and collaborator Heal Mura (Aldo, The Band) and features contributions from artists such as Ella Walton, Nathan Dies, and Jared Yee.
The EP follows 2024’s projects Migraine Fever Dream and Absolutely Almost Sure, which delved into themes of “belonging, self-doubt, identity, impermanence, and longing for connection.”
Speaking on the new EP, Late Again shares:
It’s an EP about rejection and learning to let things go. I like to think each song explores a different step in that process, from denial to acceptance.
The artist has also released the single and video “Easy On Myself” from the EP. The Jazz-tinged track “explores self-discovery through the lens of self-care and daily routine.” Written during a time when he was on the verge of quitting his day job, the song opens with a real voice memo sampled from a Zoom meeting on his final day.
The accompanying video, co-directed and shot on green screen in collaboration with visual artist Rollinos (Toro y Moi, Remi Wolf, Benee, Fazerdaze, Badbadnotgood, Metronomy), follows Late Again on a “surreal, dreamlike bike trek in search of meaning.”
Late Again says about the song and video:
The song was written when I was on the verge of quitting my job, and it talks about self-care and getting back to basics in life as a response to our inherent emptiness. It also talks about biking. Ironically, and by pure coincidence, the music video was shot on the day I finally quit. The voice memo sampled on the song’s intro is literally from a BS Zoom meeting on my last day at work. We shot the music video on a green screen with the help of visual artist Rollinos. It tells the story of an endless, surreal bike ride in search of answers, and it carries this lighthearted, ‘90s feel that takes it easy on itself.
