April + Vista Give Us ‘Traditional Noise’
Today, April + VISTA, the genre-defying duo of Virginia-raised singer/composer April George and Maryland-raised composer/producer Matthew Thompson, release their highly anticipated debut album, Traditional Noise, out now via Third & Hayden. The release arrives with the focus track “Very Bad News” and completes an arc of singles the duo has shared since late 2025, including “Standing in Place”, “Grotto”, “Bless My Heart”, and “Love Unspent”. Traditional Noise deepens their emotional and sonic world, blending soul, alt-pop, rock, electronic, and R&B—a sound they’ve honed on the Washington DC underground music circuit, and on tours with Little Dragon (with whom they crafted the 2023 collaborative EP Slipping Into Color), Mura Masa, and Little Simz.
Speaking on Traditional Noise, April + VISTA share, “This album is a multi-layered, amber-colored fossil passing down stories about the people and memories we hold dear; it’s an analog snapshot of the world from our vantage point and aims to serve as a proper introduction to who we are creatively.”
Traditional Noise is the duo’s exploration of the formative music of their youth, twisting deeply familiar sounds into strange new territory and guiding their listeners into the comforts of a sweet unknown. In an effort to upend the notion of popular music, April + VISTA focused on unlocking the feelings and noises of their nostalgia to address life’s persisting anxieties. The album plays like frayed memories, drawing from people and places of note to preserve what’s useful and release what no longer serves. The thesis of Traditional Noise centers around the duo’s growth and transformation as artists, navigating the waters of creation post-pandemic. Exploring themes of anxiety, nostalgia, and evolution, April + VISTA push their boundaries of creation by addressing how they’ve changed alongside the world since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pairing it with their signature genre-bending sounds, they try to decipher the unknown and rationalize it with their past, while trying to release past traumas and letting go of what once was. Their newfound spirituality is steeped throughout the album, further representing a new chapter of their creative alliance.
Formed in Washington, D.C. in 2014, April + VISTA have spent over a decade refining a sound rooted in curiosity, experimentation, and emotional candor. Emerging with 2018’s You Are Here — which earned them a coveted COLORS session and early co-signs from BBC Radio 1Xtra and The FADER, the duo have continued to expand the limits of their own musicianship. A string composer, April taught herself viola and composed her own string arrangements across the album, while VISTA sharpened the physical architecture of their sound, leaning into textured guitar distortion, live drums, and tactile sonic weight, while incorporating collaborators such as producer Tony Kill and drummer Bradley “Foots” McDonald. By taking the reins of recording and performing much of their work themselves, they’ve turned the studio into the grounds for continued sonic evolution. Each release has become less about polish and more about risk, pushing their experimentation to rougher, darker edges and allowing the music to shapeshift in real time. Ultimately, their music remains as fluid as its creators, shifting freely between rock, soul, electronic, and R&B. Having the range is April + VISTA’s primary mode; their songs are calls to the beyond, operating as an archive of past selves and survival guides for pressing times and uncertain futures.
Photo by Jada Imani M