meka is the guise of American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Melissa Lingo whose transcendent musicality and utterly exquisite vocal transports the listener back to the hazy sweet spot of 1960’s-70’s folk. File under the likes of Joan Baez, Vashti Bunyan and Nick Drake’s Bryter Layter, alongside more contemporary artists who embody that yesteryear classic sound such as Alela Diane.

Ahead of the release of meka’s debut album scheduled for release in 2025 via Dumont Dumont, she shares first teaser ‘Temperance.’ Its nostalgic sun-kissed California sound blooming with bass, piano and exquisite strings, with a yearning in meka’s sublime vocals giving the song its curious melancholy hue.

meka writes about the deeply personal, tapping into processes of grief and existentialism, giving a beautiful sonic shape to the otherwise intangible. On the multi-layered ‘Temperance,’ meka explores loss and the haze of memories, and recalls an experience she had of travelling across California during a devastating fire.

She says, “The song is my attempt at explaining the haze of memory and desire to feel something other than numbness, after a loved one died suddenly. To cope, I clung to what made me feel alive: the most vivid memories of my former self which was in the process of a different kind of death. The first lines are the scene of my drive to my newly widowed friend, from north to south California during an historically devastating fire that turned the usual poppy-covered hills and orchards into ash.”