Beau Diako’s recent singles have marked him out as a distinctive rising talent. The young artist possesses a rare portfolio of skills: he’s an intriguing producer with an eclectic take on songwriting as well as a warm organic tone as a guitarist. Best of all, he’s an exemplary collaborator, as demonstrated by recent work with Bas, Etta Bond, Tobi Tunis and emawk.

Building on recent acclaim from The Line of Best Fit and Wonderland, plus Spotify’s Brand New Chill playlist, Beau Diako today releases his new single ‘Settle Down’, which features Rad Museum. The track previews the April 1st release of his debut album ‘Nylon’. Listen below.

‘Settle Down’ opens with swooning, soulful vocal harmonies that sound as if they could’ve been sampled from a vintage Motown track. It then quickly establishes a woozy, hypnotic haze as Rad Museum’s soothing vocals intertwine with Beau’s tastefully understated guitar. Its meandering mellow magic escalates into textured layers of sound as it builds towards a rewarding final pay-off.

Beau Diako says, “With ‘Settle Down’ I wanted to make something a little more weird with a different mood from the rest of the album. The production is a lot more stripped back, and I wanted everything to build up to the string section in the last chorus that weaves in and out of the vocals, a part of the album I’m most proud of. I wanted to set a dreamy, nostalgic mood, and once the idea started to take shape I knew who I wanted to send the track to.

I’m so excited to have Rad Museum on the track. He’s been one of my favourite musicians for some time now and it’s an honour to make music with him, he’s a true artist.”

Rad Museum adds, “I put a message in this song that it is very necessary for all of us to calm down and have time for meditation. In this chaotic world, it's very necessary to rest.”

‘Settle Down’ plus the recent singles ‘Nylon’, ‘Fretless’ and ‘Birthmark’ all feature on the ‘Nylon’ album. It includes numerous other guest artists - including Galimatias, Jordana and Tennyson - but Beau’s bright sound and creative flair provides a cohesion that balances its varied scope. ‘Nylon’ is available to pre-save / pre-add here.

Beau Diako first stepped onto the music scene with his debut EP ‘Flutter’ in 2019, a project which featured Jordan Rakei and emawk. It set the tone for his love of collaborating - although unusually he enjoys the surprise of receiving ideas remotely rather than writing and recording in person. It’s an unorthodox approach that undeniably works, as shown by further collabs with Kasia Konstance and Sampology. Surely one of the few quarter-Ukrainian people in his home county of Hampshire, Beau’s promising football career was ended by injury. But as one door closed, his growing skills as a musician opened new possibilities.

The South Korean artist Rad Museum’s music has alternative R&B at its centre, but like Beau he expands his sound with everything from indie-pop to lo-fi to jazz. His debut EP ‘Scene’ picked up 30 million streams at Spotify alone, and was released via the label he co-founded: Seoul’s cult visual arts community you.will.knovv. He was recently featured by Rolling Stone, who described him as an “R&B genius.”

Follow Beau Diako:

Spotify | Apple Music | Instagram

Author: Andrew Braithwaite

Andrew is the founder and Managing Director of Music Talkers. He's also a keen music enthusiast and plays the guitar.