AU/RA SHARES COVER OF 'MOON RIVER'

LISTEN: MOON RIVER

Following the release of her single Ideas earlier this year and recent feature on Jax Jones’ track i miss u, Au/Ra has shared her cover of Moon River, which is available now via RCA Records.

Originally performed by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the song was written by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer and has been covered by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Louis Armstrong, Frank Ocean and more. Au/Ra has added her unique take on the track, which has a dusky and ethereal edge that is displayed through the video accompanying the track, which can be watched here. She says;

“I’ve always loved the song, especially the version sung by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do my own rendition of. During quarantine I thought ‘why not give it a try?’ It was something I just wanted to do for fun with my dad, but we ended up liking it so much that we wanted to make it an actual release for listeners.”

Ibiza-born and Antigua-raised songwriter Au/Ra explores the challenges of being a modern-day teenager, writing music that touches on the issues today's younger generation face on a daily basis, such as anxiety, communicating in an always online world and having to always show off your best self. Her single before Ideas was Ghost with Alan Walker, which was part of the Death Standing soundtrack and has been streamed over 32 million times on Spotify alone. Panic Room, her platinum selling hit, was remixed by Camelphat and stayed in the Top 40 for 9 weeks alongside being streamed 122 million times on Spotify. She has recently featured on Jax Jones’ single i miss u, which she performed alongside him on Little Mix The Search and was playlisted at Radio 1, Capitol and Kiss FM, achieving almost 18million streams so far. A live version of the track can be watched here.

An undercurrent of most of Au/Ra’s deeply visual and evocative lyrics is a sense of escapism, influenced by her fandom of anime and fantasy. Growing up devouring Studio Ghibli films, she’s always loved to disappear into the soft-edged, uncanny world of Miyazaki animations, and uses similar designs to flesh out the visual world of her music.

With her lovingly made outsider-pop, Au/Ra is providing a similar kind of space in her song writing: one where misfits feel at home and where the listener gets to peer for a minute through the lens of an artist who has simultaneously grown up outside the system, but who speaks with the zeitgeist of her generation.

Look out for further new music from Au/Ra soon.