L'Rain

Taja Cheek, known professionally as L'Rain, is an American experimentalist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and curator known primarily as the lead vocalist and songwriter of her eponymous band. L'Rain has been recognized for experimental music that draws on a vast number of traditions and genres in a practice and aesthetic Cheek calls "approaching songness". Her self-titled debut, L'Rain, was included in best-of-year lists by publications including Pitchfork and Bandcamp Daily. Her second and third albums met with wide acclaim from dozens of outlets: for 2021's Fatigue, accolades included inclusion by The Needle Drop and The Wire on their album of the year lists; I Killed Your Dog was named among the best of 2023 by The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Pitchfork. She has collaborated with artists including Vagabon, Helado Negro, and Naama Tsabar, and performed with Kevin Beasley at the Whitney Museum of American Art.