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Nick Hakim is a D.C.-raised, Queens-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who came up self-taught at the piano in a church choir, then sharpened it at Berklee. He works solo, producing and playing most of it himself, and the sound lives somewhere soulful and psychedelic and gorgeously lo-fi: introspective writing run through experimental production. Cometa is his third LP, a romantic, intimate record cut in 2022 with help from Helado Negro, Alex G, Arto Lindsay, and Isaiah Barr.
No festival history to point to here, so the connection is simple: we loved this one enough to press it as a Levitation Edition. Ours is the LP on a cloudy mix of clear and coke bottle clear, limited to 200.
What gets us about Cometa is how much it trusts the small stuff. Hakim builds these songs out of murk and warmth, hazy keys, distressed textures, vocals that sit low and close, and the whole thing reads like eavesdropping on someone in love. The production is the hook as much as the melodies are: groovy one minute, dreamy and retro-futuristic the next, never tidy, always intentional.
The press largely agreed. Clash scored it an 8, called it his most personal yet, while Bandcamp Daily tagged it a romantic, intimate standout. Fair on both counts.
Honest knock: the lo-fi haze can blur the edges, and a couple of tracks drift more than they land. But that softness is the point, and on wax it breathes. The low end gets room, the textures get depth, and an intimate record finally feels as close as it wants to be. That earns the pressing.
Recommended if you like: Chicano Batman, My Morning Jacket, Thee Sacred Souls.
