kneed presents: Superfan (ad93) \+ Alana Markel Superfan is the songwriting veil of Kali Priya Flanagan, Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist and producer. Initially imagined as a solo act, ambitious string arrangements crafted in collaboration with cellist Omeed Almassi have come to define Superfan’s noisy and magnetic pop soundscape. With newfound security and unencumbered vision, Kali trades literalism for fragmented, impressionistic lyricism, channeling love-torn ballads through obscured imagery and literary fluency that reflect a deeper confidence in both his words and his voice. Kali cites albums such as Ryuichi Sakamoto’s 1996, The Sea and Cake’s Parasol, Cat Power’s The Greatest, Low’s Trust, Sigur Rós’s Hvarf/Heim as inspiration, alongside the vocal stylings of Elizabeth Fraser, Beth Gibbons, Rufus Wainwright, and Harriet Wheeler of The Sundays. Alana Markel is a songwriter and composer based in Brooklyn. At the core her left-field pop project is Markel’s interest in contrast. Her voice, both intimate and powerful, leaps and winds through layered melodies and compositions, which vary from spare and precise to complex and expansive. Combining electronic and acoustic elements, Markel’s most recent EP I Love You explores love from all sides, at times deeply intimate and then from a distant bird’s eye view