PREMIERE: Sima Cunningham Releases “Nothing,” Announces New Album

Today, Chicago singer, songwriter and producer Sima Cunningham has announced her debut solo album, High Roller, which is set to arrive on August 30 via Ruination Records. Earlier this year, Cunningham and her bandmate Macie Stewart released their first record under the name Finom (and fourth together overall), Not God. Cunningham is continuing her hot streak of creativity with the High Roller lead single “Nothing,” a slow-burn, deeply personal folk tune about her uncle that erupts into a hypnotic, sobering full-band climax. The track shudders through intervals of noise and melody, with Cunningham’s lullaby voice anchoring the arrangement into place. The minute-long breakdown of her towering echoes and a cursive, scalding guitar solo will haunt you dry.

“I only met my uncle a handful of times. To my family he was Johnny Boy. He was born with severe cerebral palsy and lived most of his life in a care facility away from his family. He was never able to use his voice but he loved music—the Beatles in particular. He had an illustration of them on the wall of his room. When he was passing away a few years ago I thought a lot about what might be going on inside of his head—did he have ideas about how he wanted to live his life? Was he singing or reciting poetry to himself? Or something else, that was beyond my perception?” Cunningham says. “When we visited him, and when our grandmother would visit her eldest son, it was always about singing with him and connecting to him that way. When I play ‘Nothing’ I feel like I’m jumping between observing him from the outside and leaping into his head—swimming through his mental pictures and sensations.”

Listen to “Nothing” below and read our recent feature on Finom here.