Today, Oakland-born artist King Isis (they/she) is reclaiming their power with their new EP shed out March 21 via Dirty Hit/No Matter. Co-produced with Hello Yello (Jaden Wiggins & Martin Rodrigues), shed is a cathartic release of a past that no longer serves them and a rebirth for a brighter future that awaits.

Inspired by Gloria E. Anzaldúa’s seminal text Borderlands/La Frontera and its examination of snakes as a metaphor and theme of purging, shed comes as darkier, grungier follow up to the brighter alt-pop debut EP scales. In October of last year, King Isis gave us a taste of what’s to come with the intoxicating ‘MAKE IT UP’ and is back with the melodic single ‘MONKI’ to coincide with the EP announcement.

“‘MONKI’ is a song written in a space of rejection, pushing back against narratives and ideologies that were placed upon me to confine”, they say of the track. “I wrote ‘MONKI’ as a sonic representation of taking up space as my full authentic self.”