deepState Releases New Album ‘Rain’
deepState is the musical project of Jessica Morgan (she/her), a musician and songwriter based in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Teaming up with Sunreturn in 2021 for her debut MMXXI, Morgan has made her name for herself while exploring the nuances of House, Electronica, Downtempo, Garage and Breakbeat. deepState would go on to release MMXXI Remixes (featuring the likes of Dbldbl & Grecco Romank) along with singles with esteemed local electronic labels like Echo Train and Big Fresh Collective. In 2023 she released Dreams that would see her win Te Tohu Kohinga Mariu (Favourite Album) at the 2023 Student Radio Network Awards and nominated for 2024 Te Manu Taki Tāhiko o te Tau (Best Electronic Artist) at the 2024 Aotearoa Music Awards. deepState’s tracks long for the dancefloor and she’s performed at The Others Way, Cross Street Music Festival, Newtown Fest, Camp A Low Hum and supported international talents such as Iglooghost.
Throughout 2026 deepState has delivered new music that has attracted attention from the local gatekeepers and tastemakers including Sniffers NZ, Sunday Magazine, NZ Listener, UnderTheRadar and Rolling Stone AU/NZ. Singles Rain and Games made appearances on the Aotearoa Hot Singles Chart, Radioscope Alt Chart and the illustrious 95bFM Top 10.
Today listeners will transcend the dancefloor with the release of deepState’s third album Rain. The record is a deeply personal evolution of deepState’s sound, built for both solitary late-night listening and the collective release of dancing in the club.
Stream deepState – Rain
Influenced by the immersive electronic sound of the 90’s Rain’s seven tracks are a definitive example of devotional downtempo electronica. Atmospheric without losing its connection to the dancefloor, deepState welds together hazy breaks, shimmering arpeggios, self sampled vocal edits, lounging bass and soulful topline melodies. Rain is accompanied by radiant music videos created by Aotearoa animators Ew Splat and Simon Ward (made with support from NZ On Air Music) and was mastered by the good ears at Downbeat Mastering.
“With Rain I wanted to explore some more of the downtempo sounds that I love,” says Jess. “It’s a sound that I grew up with in the 90’s and so there’s a real sense of nostalgia for me around many of the popular trip-hop and downtempo adjacent artists from that time. A lot of what draws me to the genre is the fact that it allows for this reshaping of influences in a way that really appeals to me in terms of sound, mood and texture. Downtempo is able to encompass a wide and diverse range of styles and bring them together in a way that somehow stays true to the many nuances of those specific influences whilst recontextualising them in an unmistakable, distinctive way.”
“I think the importance of layering, texture and atmosphere in order to create a sense of emotion or immersion has always come through clearly in the music I make and the Downtempo genre lends itself well to this.”
Reflecting on the nearly two year process of creating Rain, deepState shares an honest insight into self-doubt, pressure and perseverance.
“The making of this album was at times difficult as I found that I was lacking some of the motivation and confidence I’d had whilst making Dreams. I think some of this came from the fact that I was probably trying to recreate some of the magic I felt whilst making Dreams. That album came together from a huge amount of learning post the release of my MMXXI, not just around mixing techniques but also around the type of sounds I loved and the kind of songs I wanted to create.”
“Looking back on the making of Rain I wonder if I was trying to figure out what the next step was or if I was trying to replicate that process. This ultimately meant that at times during the making of Rain I was putting a big amount of pressure on myself to make something that I felt was ‘good’ or trying to force myself to make something that I thought others might find interesting. All of this meant I ended up losing confidence in the process because I was overthinking everything and it ultimately took a lot of the enjoyment out of the experience of making a song. I think some of this comes through in the lyrics, specifically within Games and Have Faith, around that sense of just having to push through a process that feels really difficult knowing something will come from it as well as the idea of questioning the sincerity or certainty of what you’re doing.”
“In spite of this I did find joy in making these tracks and am so happy to have them finished. One of the best bits is having a song completed, taking some space and then coming back to it and feeling really good about how it turned out, like wow, this is a cool song and I feel really excited for other people to hear it. Also, getting the masters back was great, Josh from Downbeat did a fantastic job bringing the tracks to their full potential and I love the two amazing videos made by Ew Splat and Simon Ward.”
Photo Credit: Frances Carter
