Samuel Proffitt builds worlds out of songs. Over the better part of the past decade and through a myriad of hit singles, a trio of acclaimed EPs, and fevered live appearances, the American musician has created a unique blend of lush, emotional electronic soundscapes to think and feel to. And with his new EP Shades, the composer/producer/songwriter—who is concurrently a Russian literature and art scholar, lecturer, museum curator, and PhD candidate at Brown University—has created his most captivating collection of worlds yet, bringing live orchestration, vocalist and production guests, and a new sense of patience into his sure-footed artistic process. Proffitt, who was raised in Texas but has lived on the East Coast for most of his adult life, began writing original music and making mashups on Ableton during college. Following the release of the Good Death EP in 2019, Proffitt started working on a new collection of material, but for the first time in his career he began by looking into his past. Of the half dozen songs on Shades, only one had been written in that same calendar year, with two tracks—“Sounds” and “Lusya”—going back all the way to two consecutive one-day writing sessions in 2015. The concept behind Shades revolves around the exploration of that certain titular mythological spirit that manifests following moments of extreme anguish and trauma. “This is the most personal music I’ve ever made,” Proffitt says.