Premiere: Lou Hayter ‘3AM’

Lou Hayter will release a new single, ‘3AM’, tomorrow on Greco-Roman. Have an exclusive first listen below. 

Since finding her feet as a solo artist with the strutting, electro-pop of debut LP, ‘Private Sunshine’, in 2021, Lou Hayter has been refining a sound that joyously melds ’90s-infused house with disco, balearic, soul and beyond. Now signed to Greco Roman, the London-based artist will return with her second album of warming club treats next month, featuring latest single, ‘3AM’.

Inspired by the “crossover house records” she loved as a child – namely Steve Silk Hurley’s ‘Too Blind To See It’ – ‘3AM’ is steeped in clubland nostalgia. Mellow late-night grooves, catchy finger snaps and pared-back acid lines are in full flow across the release, which is set to land tomorrow (Wednesday, 4th September).

“This song is exactly what it says in the lyrics,” Hayter elaborated. “I was wide awake at 3am and sang this into my phone, which happens to me a lot in the night… I collected house records all through my teens, from Masters at Work, Mood2Swing etc., so I was thinking of those when I made it.”

Hayter shot fame in the mid ’00s as a member of electro-punk band New Young Pony Club (NYPC), before joining Air’s JB Dunckel as Tomorrow’s World and Nick Phillips as The New Sins. She embarked on her solo career in 2022, and has since released a string of singles and remixes on Loaded Records sublabel, Skint Records.

Elaborating on her creative process, Hayter shared: “I have a magpie approach to music in that I’m always looking for something I haven’t heard before that is shiny and exciting to my ears: if it doesn’t have magic in it I won’t use it. I made my own world in this [new] record, I’m proud of it and I think it sounds quite unique”.

‘Unfamiliar Skin’ is out 4th October on Greco-Roman. Pre-order the album here, and have an exclusive first listen to second single, ‘3AM’, below.