Sevdaliza - Ison (2017)

Sevdaliza's debut album feels like a lifetime examined — and past lives exhumed.

The Iranian-born, Netherlands-based singer and songwriter navigates trip-hop, industrial R&B and a strain of dubstep that's more soul than shuffle. But the more you sink into the desperate motion of ISON, the more she breaks apart, discovering pieces of her identity and challenging how the world circumscribes it.

"ISON has manifested in its physical form," Sevdaliza writes of today's surprise album release, "and to celebrate, I give you the moving album cover, sculptured by the incredible Sarah Sitkin." The album is packaged in visuals based around Sitkin's striking, hyper-surrealistic sculpture.

"The idea is based around Sevdaliza being the mother to herself and her past lives," Sitkin writes. "It carries her vulnerability stoically. Her features distorted, some omitted, some emphasized. A new form is repeated through her 16 children [the album's songs] surrounding her."