What happens when a small apartment in LA inspires a photographic artist to make music for the first time? For Xan Thorrhoea, it’s some real good grooves.

Botanically speaking, Xanthorrhoea (glauca) is the iconic spiky and intrinsically unusual native grass tree that primarily covers the east coast of Australia. It requires little water, has a very slow growth rate and has probably featured in an architecturally minimal landscaped garden you’ve admired and dream of maybe one day having (just me?). The plant is pretty interesting, TBQH, and musically speaking, so is Xan Thorrhoea.

Unlike the plant, Xan Thorrhoea calls Western Australia home and made their polished debut EP of four tracks surprisingly quickly. Across just two weekends in 2019, the deliberately anonymous and mysterious artist dove into recording in the small space that ignited creation.

The result is Apt. 1, released (perhaps ironically) in the midst of isolation and lockdowns in March 2020. Filled with much of what we’re craving right now, Apt. 1 presents us with space, light and purity wrapped up in dreamy ambient tracks that feel uninhibited yet complex. According to XT, the four tracks share the spirit of a mumblecore film and they chose the simple grooves and naïve melodies to make space for the angelic vocals of the child robot.

Get into Xan Thorrhoea’s zone and discover those angelic vocals for yourself:

Tune into Up For It every Monday morning to meet your new Independent Artist of the Week!