SAFIA

The members of SAFIA met at college in Australia’s capital city of Canberra, molding their diverse musical tastes in the form of a live electronic trio. That affection for a wide spectrum of genres informed their 2013 breakthrough “Listen to Soul, Listen to Blues,” on which butter-voiced Ben Woolner argues the importance of just the right music at just the right time as the track slips from a close-sung ballad to a dance-floor invitation. It earned SAFIA a prominent feature on Peking Duk’s electro-pop torch song “Take Me Over,” which hit No. 6 on the Aussie pop chart. The band’s self-produced 2016 debut album, Internal, delivered clubby anthems on a grander scale, with Woolner sounding like a full-fledged pop star on the euphoric “Embracing Me.” Even since SAFIA turned more introspective and R&B-shaded with 2019’s Story’s Start or End, the hooks are still just as forthcoming as the slick production.