Kelsey Lu’s contribution to the Early Hours series, featuring laidback DJ mixes for late nights and early mornings, was assembled with the spirit of an after-hours in mind—that precious, intimate, pre-dawn hang when you don’t want the night to end. “I envision this as a chill-out set after a night out,” the multi-disciplinary musician tells Apple Music. To craft this mix, Lu says they let their spirit guide them while also plumbing personal playlists they’ve categorized by mood. (Lu, a classically trained cellist and experimental pop producer, has brought their avant-garde ear to collaborations with a range of artists, including Solange and Florence + the Machine, so one can only imagine the depths of their record collection.) In some ways, this mix also serves as a creative mood board: “I go through what I’ve been listening to [lately], what I’ve been watching and reading, and the time periods those are in,” they say. Lately, it seems they’ve been thinking about the jazz giant Alice Coltrane, whose psychedelic 1976 cut “Wisdom Eye” is featured here, as well as soul/R&B visionaries D’Angelo and Sade, whose quietly storming love songs turn down the tempo but not the heat.
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