On her debut EP, Играть и плакать, Saint Petersburg-based producer and singer-songwriter Север (pronounced “see-veer”) presents a retrofitted brand of lo-fi dance pop, sung in her native Russian. Its first few efforts, “Всегда” (or “Always”) and “Бей и кричи,” are formidable, dance-ready hits sporting heavy and unpolished beats that strive for early 90s club pop.

Throughout the seven-track EP, Север’s vocals are frail yet piercing, barely making themselves known over bombastic dance productions. The effect is delightfully unnerving, recalling the best of Jessy Lanza‘s hushed R&B-electronica. And despite her retro swagger, she assembles a sound from fragments of the past that feels distinctly of the future.

Listen Север’s Играть и плакать EP below.