Cold Specks

Cold Specks is Ladan Hussein, a singer-songwriter and a soul artist with a powerful, weathered voice and a commanding delivery that turned quite a few heads in the '10s before she took a break from music following her third album, Fool's Paradise (2017). Her songwriting skills and inspired arrangements have been central to her work as much as her vocal presence. Her self-described "doom soul" sound tends to come from a relatively dark place, infused with gothic sensibilities that were especially prominent in her initial albums. 2014's Neuroplasticity takes that approach to the next level, where she adopts elements of dark-flavored rock with hints of post-rock drones. By contrast, her more recent releases seem to be leaning more towards balladry and introspective songs.