Can I Come Over? – Starchild & The New Romantic

Bryndon Cook, known as Starchild and Starchild & the New Romantic, isn’t the alien of the same nickname introduced on Parliament’s fourth album, but the alternative R&B artist is somewhere down that creative bloodline, closer in relation to Prince, perhaps cousins with the likes of Sampha, Dornik, and Kelela. A singer, songwriter, musician, and producer, Cook has been employed as a touring guitarist for Solange and has worked beside Patrick Wimberly (Chairlift), Dev Hynes, and James Pants. In 2012, he released Night Music, a five-track EP, as a free download, and followed up with a handful of cuts scattered across the next couple years. In 2014, he uploaded the aching ballad “All My Lovers” and premiered its video on the website of The Fader. By the end of the year, he contributed “Relax” to the soundtrack for Dear White People. “All My Lovers” was given an official release the following year on Ghostly International, which issued Cook’s first proper EP, Crucial, that March. Cook contributed to Hynes’ Freetown Sound and Solange’s A Seat at the Table prior to following up with Language, his first proper album, in 2018. ~ Andy Kellman