Nailah Hunter

The music of Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist and composer Nailah Hunter opens gateways into magical worlds. Shimmering with dulcet harp tones and dreamy electronics, her
first debut EP Spells was released by LA’s acclaimed Leaving Records in May 2020 and described by Rolling Stone as “one of the best recent releases of its kind”.

Nailah was born in Manhattan and raised in LA - the daughter of a Belizean pastor - playing drums and acoustic guitar in her dad’s church band and singing in its choir. As a teenager, her growing interest in artists like Erik Satie and Alice Coltrane and the soundtracks of Miyazaki films began to crystallise into delicately ethereal musicality. A key turning point came aged 19 when she received a baby harp as a gift while she was already a student at CalArts, developing a keenly trained compositional sense and a perfectly smoky singing voice.

Today Nailah hosts a monthly NTS radio show, Astral Garden, and has collaborated with Lyra Pramuk, No Joy, John Carroll Kirby, and Bing and Ruth. In June 2020, she released the
standalone single “Black Valhalla” to raise funds for the Loveland Foundation, a charity providing therapy to young black girls. Not long after, Nailah reimagined Radiohead's original track, “Talk Show Host“, which found broad recognition.

In 2021, her tranquil sound led her to write Sleeping Sea, a sleep-aiding soundscape album as part of Endels' collaborative series with Leaving Records. Continuing her way into soundtracks, in 2022, Nailah featured on an original score for The Lazarus Project for Sky TV series by accomplished composer Ben Lukas Boysen. Nailah has written soundscapes for NIKE, Union Station in LA, and VUE TV, with her most recent work being a soundtrack for a digital novel for The Quest of Evolution. In addition, her collaborative track ''Lua'' was recently placed in an Apple campaign.