London-based duo misty4me introduce themselves with “coffee fund”, a debut single that wraps the desire to escape city life in bright, guitar-driven synth-pop, only to question what that escape really means. Written by Scottish and Lebanese-Palestinian songwriter Salwa (Lana Salwa MacIver) alongside guitarist-bassist KingKatsuu (James Themba Loyns), the track takes a familiar pleasure, finding a good café somewhere new, and turns it into a reflection on the uneasy relationship between comfort, money and gentrification.
The song grew out of a snowy trip to Amsterdam, where cheaper coffee, sunshine and unhurried afternoons offered a glimpse of a slower existence. Returning to post-COVID, post-Brexit London brought the familiar pressures back into focus. Yet misty4me resist the easy fantasy that moving somewhere else, or finding a more affordable corner of the world, automatically offers a clean break. Gentrification follows people, and those seeking refuge from its effects can inadvertently contribute to the same cycle elsewhere. That contradiction gives ‘coffee fund’ more substance than its relaxed premise initially suggests.
Musically, the duo lean into indie pop’s sunnier side, balancing guitar-led textures with synth-pop and dream-pop sensibilities. The approach suits the subject: there is a sense of ease and lightness that makes the track inviting, while its underlying concerns prevent it from becoming mere escapist soundtrack material. misty4me’s dry humour also offers a useful counterweight to the wistfulness, keeping the song grounded in everyday absurdities rather than turning its longing into grand declarations. The challenge for a sound this breezy is ensuring its reflective ideas remain as memorable as its melodic appeal. Here, the tension between the two is what makes the premise interesting.
The accompanying music video extends that perspective in an unexpectedly inventive direction. After noticing her dog Spider’s trot falling in time with different mixes of the song, Salwa built the visual concept around his view of the world. Footage captured with a specially adapted GoPro harness follows the tiny dog through coffee shops and the streets of Bethnal Green. Playful and slightly surreal, the video reframes familiar neighbourhood rituals from ground level, giving the track’s observations about place and belonging an intimate visual dimension.
With “coffee fund”, misty4me make a promising entrance by finding a more complicated story beneath the appeal of a cheap coffee and a sunny afternoon. Its real value lies in recognising that the search for a simpler life is never entirely separate from the world we leave behind, or the one we help reshape.
Featured Image: Jubbi Georgia Rose
