Following the release of singles "Once in a While" and "Wasting Your Love" earlier this summer, LA-based singer/songwriter Emile Mosseri has announced the 21 February release of his second solo album tryin to be born.

This time around, Mosseri says he's made a deliberate move away from piano and the cinematic sweep of his celebrated soundtracks (most famously Minari, for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Score) and towards a live band sound.

Produced, mixed, and engineered by Mosseri's longtime collaborator Bobby Krlic, aka The Haxan Cloak, the album features a killer backing band comprising Hand Habits' Meg Duffy, Brijean's Dougie Stu, and Play What's Not There's Kosta Galanopolous.

Writing on Instagram, Mosseri revealed that tryin to be born was written mostly over a one-month period in late 2023 and was recorded live to tape at Altimira Sound in Alhambra, CA. "I would teach the band the tunes each morning in the studio and we’d try to catch good takes like fresh fish," he says. "Felt like a little family and we hit a frequency that was special and can’t wait to share the whole thing with you."

Newly dropped third single "Don't Fall Back So Easily" started life as a piano ballad, he told Atwood Magazine in a recent feature, adding:

"Bobby had the idea to slow it down and sludge it up and play it with the band and the song became brand new again to my tired old ears. This tune was a bit of a starting point and birthed the idea to record an album live to tape with a band and move away from the piano and cinematic music."

Mosseri's previous band projects include The Dig (2010–2018) and the short-lived offshoot Human Love. His 2020 soundtrack to Miranda July's Kajillionaire included a lovely duet with Angel Olsen, and, in 2022, he collaborated with experimental electronic composer (and LA neighbor) Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith on an ambitious double album I Could Be Your Dog / I Could Be Your Moon.

Listen to "Don't Fall Back So Easily" and watch a live performance of the track below:

tryin to be born tracklist:
1. Blood Boy
2. Once in a While
3. Not Going Anywhere
4. Easing In
5. Wasting Your Love
6. Sugar Tree
7. Don't Fall Back So Easily
8. A Whole Life
9. I Could Be Your Hands
10. You and Your Boyfriend

Mosseri will play a free show at LA venue Zebulon on 10 October. Tickets are available here.