Since their debut EP Sixtape in 2014, Baltimore-based duo Blacksage has been possessing listeners with the devastating coo of folk singer Josephine Olivia and the bass heavy beats of producer Drew Scott. Melting gothic-tinged elements of modern R&B and 90s trip-hop with old-fashioned Pop, their 2015 full-length Basement Vows expanded on this dynamic. “It’s a bleak setting, but there’s inherent beauty in it,” wrote Brandon Weigel of Baltimore City Paper. Their songs tread on the darker side of love and lust while remaining aware of the experimental and danceable nature of the music scene brewing in Baltimore. Friends Records released their second full-length Shivers in Fall of 2016.