Premiere: Aladean Kheroufi Fuses Funk With ’60s Pop Sensibilities On “Sorry If I Hurt You”

After working and touring with a number of bands over the years, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Aladean Kheroufi made the leap last year and began releasing music as a solo artist. Hailing from Canadian by way of Algeria, Kheroufi’s music takes noticeable cues from the past — particularly the sort of late ’60s/early ’70s folk and pop — but they’re also utterly timeless.

For example, his latest single “Sorry If I Hurt You” calls to mind everyone from Simon and Garfunkel to the more souful side of ’90s alt-maniacs Ween. Recorded between Munich, New York and Edmonton, the track ripples gracefully from the speaker, held together by his smooth and charming vocals that ponder the end of a relationship and everything he wishes he’d said in the moment.

Speaking with Complex via email, Aladean said: “‘Sorry If I Hurt You’ is about all the things you wish someone said after a relationship falls apart. Being kept awake wondering if that person ever thinks about what they did and what they would’ve said if they felt remorse.

“I recorded ‘Sorry If I Hurt You’ at my home studio in Edmonton, Alberta with the intentions of the song being a demo,” he continued. “I had the track on my computer and continued to work on it while I was travelling, adding all the extras bits and pieces over the course of three months. Vocals were recorded in a cabin just outside of Munich, Germany, some extra guitar parts being done in NYC and then coming back to Edmonton to bring the whole thing together with the help of Kimberlite Records.”