Artist Detailed Info: Cold Specks

Cold Specks is Somali-Canadian singer-songwriter Ladan Hussein, known previously as Al Spx, from Etobicoke, Canada, who now lives in London.

Cold Specks' music is steeped in the musical traditions of the Deep South. No wonder then that she cites the Lomax Field Recordings and James Carr as influences along with Bill Callahan and Tom Waits. With a voice that evokes the 'spirit feel' of Mahalia Jackson and the visceral tones of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Cold Specks uses sparse arrangements and chain-gang rhythms.

She released her debut album, I Predict a Graceful Expulsion, on May 21, 2012, on Mute Records and Arts & Crafts in Canada. The album was a shortlisted nominee for the 2012 Polaris Music Prize.

Her second album, Neuroplasticity, was released on August 26, 2014.

Her third album, Fool's Paradise, followed in 2017.

Following Fool's Paradise, Hussein suffered a mental health breakdown, and underwent several months of treatment at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. In 2025 she released Light for the Midnight, her first full-length album since her health issues.

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