Zufana Weddase set a new bar for transcendent neo-classic ambience in her soul-rooted debut single, Paradise –

Ambient artists rarely arrive in the music industry with a bang. It’s in their nature to beguile with whispers, and few scintillate as viscerally as Zufana Weddase did with her debut single, Paradise. Cinematically luxe, spiritual in its sheer embodiment of soul, Paradise paints a utopia through brushstrokes of the heartstrings. The intuitively emotive neo-classical piano arrangement, laid by her husband and creative collaborator, sits against the opulence of the strings and the stridence of the sax lines to ensure the organic magnetism of the instrumentals is as full-bodied as possible as they make a circle of the emotional spectrum.

As a seasoned live and session performer with a background rooted in soul and classical traditions, the London-based vocalist never needed to posture for attention. Her vocal presence in Paradise is assured without ever overpowering. It delivers a sermon on what beauty truly means when you dig beneath the surface and embrace sublimity rather than spectacle. It’s a rare thing to hear a debut single this self-possessed.

Born from a single live performance so affecting it sparked immediate backing, Paradise is the sound of an artist who knows how to distil something as abstract as hope into soundwaves. Using her sense of soul and style as much as the timbre of her talent, Zufana Weddase delivered one of the most authentically enriching releases we’ve heard all year. We’re more than stoked for the sophomore.

Paradise is now available on all major streaming platforms, including SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast