Apple Music Home Session: KAWALA

“Lockdown was definitely a time of reflection,” KAWALA’s Jim Higson tells Apple Music. “It really helped us to recalibrate and pinpoint exactly what we wanted for our debut album. It was in this period that we decided to allow ourselves to be vulnerable in our songwriting—something we had avoided in the past. By doing this we realized our songwriting improved.” A fine example of that is “Echoes.” Recast in this Apple Music Home Session as delicate acoustic pop, the track originally appeared on the London five-piece’s debut album, Better With You, in March 2022.

“We chose ‘Echoes’ because it has a lyric that our album is named after,” says Higson. “It’s a celebration of everyone who’s involved in our project, especially our fans, so it felt only right to give it more space to breathe. It really shines as a song when only the two of us [Higson and co-frontman Daniel McCarthy] perform it without all the bells and whistles.” The duo also treats us to a hushed cover of The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber’s megahit “STAY.” “We chose that,” says Higson, “because it’s an undeniable banger that has managed to get stuck in our heads since release.”