L'Rain

Taja Cheek works as L'Rain, and her music begins with a question about what a song can be. Raised in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, she is an experimentalist, multi-instrumentalist and composer, and as lead vocalist and songwriter of the band that carries her name she draws on a broad spread of traditions and genres. She calls the practice "approaching songness". Her background is unusually varied, taking in ballet at The Ailey School, Baroque recorder, and bass picked up in high school.

Her self-titled debut arrived in 2017 on New York label Astro Nautico and earned a place in Pitchfork's 20 Best Experimental Albums of 2017. Her 2018 remake of the 1980s Chicago house track "Your Love" for the Bring Down The Walls compilation raised money for Critical Resistance. Fatigue, released on Mexican Summer in 2021, was named album of the year by The Wire, and I Killed Your Dog (2023) was among the best of the year for The New York Times and Rolling Stone. She has toured with Big Thief and LCD Soundsystem, and in June 2026 released the single "Soulless Cycle" ahead of Fata Morgana, due 14 August 2026.