On “Augustina,” Nabil Muquit builds a world that feels both dreamlike and grounded in the pulse of lived experience. Written in the solitude of a dark UNT studio after his move from Philadelphia to Denton, the track unfolds like a diary entry turned into a cinematic score. It began simply, on piano, but grew into a lush, studio-crafted piece that now anchors Muquit’s live performances. Its official arrival on September 12, 2025, marks not just the release of a song but the crystallization of an artist intent on finding intimacy and fantasy in an era where music often rushes past both.
The textures of “Augustina” pull from multiple directions—lofi hip hop, ambient jazz, and the pulse of electronic dance. Yet what ties it together is Muquit’s insistence on emotional clarity. The song lingers, its melodies circling the edges of longing, while its production creates a space that feels expansive and nocturnal. If much of modern pop is engineered for immediacy, “Augustina” takes the opposite route. It drifts, it seduces, and it refuses to resolve too quickly.
Muquit’s mentor, Braxton Cook, looms large over this track, not in sound but in spirit. Cook’s example gave Muquit the courage to step into the unknown as a solo artist during college, and that sense of risk-taking threads through “Augustina.” There is a vulnerability in presenting romance not as a cliché but as a yearning for something that feels almost out of reach—a woman of fantasy, a presence both real and imagined.
Coming after his collaboration with Jake the Jeweler on “Kelly Drive/Pistachio,” this release feels like a declaration of Muquit’s personal vision. Where that earlier work leaned on partnership, “Augustina” thrives in solitude. It belongs to late nights, to headphones, to the quiet act of surrendering to a song that asks more than it gives back on first listen.
In the context of 2025’s crowded release calendar, “Augustina” might seem understated. But that restraint is its power. Muquit is less interested in chasing algorithmic trends than in carving a path through intimacy, atmosphere, and craft. If “Augustina” is the foundation of his upcoming solo discography, it suggests a career defined not by volume but by a devotion to the spaces in music where fantasy and feeling blur into one another.
Features Images: Artist Supplied
