Luminous Kid and Okay Alright share debut collaboration "the stars are lookin down"
Luminous Kid and Okay Alright – aka Stockholm-based artist Olof Grind, and Californian songwriter Bryce Waitkus – have revealed the first track to emerge from a long-distance collaboration born on a camping trip and sustained across continents.
"The stars are lookin down" is a low-key, minimally produced piece of indie folk, reflecting the circumstances of its creaiton: Grind and Waitkus [who uses they/them pronouns] wrote the track while travelling up the California coast. “We reflected on the beauty and magic of nature and the inner world that opens up when you’re on the road,” Grind said of the process. “It’s laidback, grounded, and authentic, with strong dynamics and minimal production.”
The two artists initially connected online through a mutual appreciation for each other’s work. That virtual rapport became a working friendship when Grind toured the US, and despite living on opposite sides of the world, the pair have since used brief, intensive visits to write and record a handful of songs.
Grind's queer indie folk project Luminous Kid also encompasses his work as a multidisciplinary artist. He released his debut full-length album, at the end of the dream, in 2021, accompanied by a book of the same title. That record, which featured a guest appearance from Phoebe Bridgers, was written in South America but largely recorded in a cabin on the northern coast of Sweden. Its songs touch on queerness within a heteronormative society, heartbreak, friendship, and what Grind has described as “a perpetual and curious exploration”.
Waitkus operates as okay alright from a cabin in Pine Mountain Club, California. A therapist as well as a musician, their work is lyric-forward and sonically shaped by artists including Adrianne Lenker, Field Medic, Bright Eyes and Florist. Waitkus is currently on a West Coast tour.
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