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Lontalius’ First Trip To New York Was A Dream Come True

The New Zealand songwriter performs the unreleased song “Yr Heart Is Beating” on a rooftop at dusk.

February 11, 2016

Do you remember the first time you came to New York City? I only sort of do. I was small, younger than five, and we ate pizza—I think. I remember being impressed, though, even then: by the people, the energy, and the buildings that seemed to touch the sky, like a jigsaw puzzle of man-made giant beanstalks.

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Eddie Johnston, the prodigious New Zealand teen who makes lo-fi pop songs as Lontalius, had always dreamed about coming to New York; he told me so when we spoke over Skype for his GEN F profile in 2014. Last fall, that dream came true when he and his bandmates landed in the States to play a few shows, and we were lucky enough to spend some time with them on their inaugural visit.

In the video above, they play a sleepy new song called "Yr Heart Is Beating" on a Red Hook rooftop at dusk. The performance is mixed up with shots of the boys exploring the city, eyes wide and hearts full, drunk on that hard-to-describe feeling that comes a lot less often now that I live here full time. It usually only hits me when I'm walking around midtown and remember to look up.

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Watch Lontalius perform "Yr Heart Is Beating" above, and listen to an official stream of the track below. His new album I'll Forget 17, named for a slightly modified Frank Ocean lyric, is out March 25 on Partisan.