After share tracks for a sunkissed nap in exclusive playlist to accompany The Cover

NME’s latest stars of The Cover, After, have created an exclusive playlist to accompany the story’s launch – check it out below.

• READ MORE: After’s nostalgic trip-pop is bringing the “promise of Y2K” into the present

The US duo are on this week’s (September 27) edition of The Cover, a manifestation of NME’s commitment to supporting emerging talent across the globe on a weekly basis. Every week, a rising artist will feature on The Cover – you can read After’s profile here, written by Karen Gwee and featuring photography by David Milan Kelly.

To accompany their appearance on The Cover, After have curated an exclusive playlist of ‘Music For Falling Asleep In The Sun’. Their selections include tracks by the likes of Jon Hopkins, Julianna Barwick, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Malibu, and more. Listen to the full playlist on Spotify below and on Apple Music.

In The Cover, After discuss their journey so far – including members Justine Dorsey and Graham Epstein initially meeting on a dating app – their debut album ‘Fell Asleep In The Sun’, and their nostalgic, Y2K-referencing sound. “People who come to our shows are so young… It’s like a dream for them, the promise of Y2K,” Dorsey muses on the latter point. “They have been born into such a crazy, fucked world – and we’re in it too, obviously – and I like that [After’s sound] is this sweet thing that they really connect to.”

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‘Fell Asleep In The Sun’, which was released in July, was influenced by a range of “super maximalist” items across pop culture. The duo point to the likes of 2000 sci-fi cult classic The Cell, the debut feature of Tarsem Singh, whom Roger Ebert once called a “visual virtuoso”, and the bizarre dreamworld of dark fantasy film MirrorMask by English artist Dave McKean. “It’s so important to keep a bank of unconscious images and fragments and stuff. They come out in really mysterious, interesting ways,” Dorsey notes.

Read After’s full Cover story here and find out who else has been on The Cover here.

Every year, NME produces 50 Cover stories, showcasing the future of music via in-depth profiles and exclusive photoshoots. Check out our coffee table book NME The Cover 2024-2025, which features the likes of Kneecap, Lola Young, Amaarae, LE SSERAFIM, Oklou and many more.