Xander Singh - Muffin

A few years ago Xander Singh lost everything that had defined him. Within the span of three weeks, the former member of Passion Pit and Pepper Rabbit went through a serious breakup and his health took a drastic downturn, taking him off the road and derailing his career. Singh's debut solo album, Muffin, is the story of the journey that followed and how he made it back from the most physically and emotionally painful edges of living. 

Muffin began as a practice in catharsis, a way for Singh to untangle everything that had happened to him and the way his life had suddenly turned out. Programming machines to interpret his humanity, he wrote and recorded every track in his living room, without the intent of making an album, but rather to regain control. Muffin's sonic core is synth-pop, as Singh's creativity roams around seamless influences of R&B, top 40 and modern dance music, beaming with honesty at times best fitting contemplative isolation in a dark room and, at others, a crowded dance floor. 

From the emotional shut down on album opener "Turn Off My Love" to glitchy desperation on "ICU" to upbeat recklessness on "Love is Suicide," the songs run chronologically as Singh struggles with how to handle loss of love and, really, his own identity. Finally, he finds final resolution on closer "As Long As You're Loved," letting go with the realization that all the personal torture he endured had little to do with him as a person but in his approach to the world. 

Xander Signh's debut album Muffin is out everywhere Dec. 16. via Hit City U.S.A.