Seattle-based musician Alda Agustiano has been wowing audiences with her unique stage performances and slick, intricately layered recorded material under the name Chong the Nomad for a couple of years now. 2018 was a banner year for the artist, releasing her debut EP love memo and making landmark performances at Capitol Hill Block Party and Sasquatch!.
Agustiano is no typical electronic producer. Rather than spend her time onstage behind a computer, she kicks off her shoes and uses the full stage to jump and dance while bringing out a variety of instruments including ukelele and harmonica. It’s a dynamic and engaging experience that one shouldn’t miss.
Our Song of the Day is last month’s single, “Two Colors,” a shape-shifting song that sees Agustiano sing in hushed tones “It’s in your eyes love yes I can fall.” Agustiano told KEXP this about the song when we premiered it in April:
“Well, I was going through a lot of transitions in my life and I — how do I put this? — I was intimidated and scared about all the decisions I was making with my career, with my personal life, and that song is kind of representative of how I went through making those decisions if that makes sense….
"Ah, fuck it, I’m going to be specific. It’s about my girlfriend. We started dating last year and I was really scared about going all-in in a relationship again. The next couple of singles are very relationship-based, my personal experiences. And 'Two Colors' song is basically just about deciding whether or not to fall in love and going with it and falling blindly into it because you just don’t care anymore. And one of her eyes has two colors in it. So, yeah, that’s it! When [my manager] Austin asked me to come up with a paragraph about the song, I made it very vague. But now it’s just, like, 'No, I’m gay.'"
Catch Chong the Nomad tonight at Everett’s Fisherman’s Village Music Festival. Below, watch VISITSEATTLE.tv’s video feature on Chong the Nomad.
