The Allies: Catherine Harris-White & Stasia Irons

Age: 25; 26
Hometown: SF/Pahoa/Sea-Town; Tacoma
Current Neighborhood: Central District
Favorite Place in Seattle: The trees; Lake Washington Blvd.
Last Book Read: Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler; Harlem is Nowhere by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts

Love, respect and equality are bigger and more important than a single social movement. So is THEESatisfaction.

Since 2008, the Seattle hip-hop duo has self-produced and self-released mixtapes oriented around loose concepts like self determination, destructive media influence, Stevie Wonder’s relationship to colonialism, Christmas spirit, universal compassion and weed. They conflate personal and political with the effortless cool of two young women certain of their artistic mission. That mission might be best summed up in the title of their full-length debut, coming out in March on Sub Pop: Awe Naturale.

“It’s something we’ve been working on ever since we started the group,” Harris-White says. “We’re influenced by everything that happens around us, from what we watch to what we listen to, to what we eat, to what the weather’s like. It all goes into it.”

Threads of community engagement, feminism and Afrocentrism bind Awe Naturale. Irons and Harris-White sing-rap over psychedelic soul, rubbery funk and propulsive hip-hop, with live instrumentation and digital tweakery woven throughout by producer Erik Blood. Brother-in-arms/Shabazz Palaces MC Ishmael Butler floats through back-to-back tracks “God” and “Enchantruss.” His aggressive presence here contrasts the ladies’ openheartedness.

Almost 20 years their elder, Butler has cosigned Harris-White and Irons for years: They toured the U.S. and U.K. together last year, often appearing onstage together, and THEESat softens Shabazz’s acclaimed Black Up album.

“Each listen, their shit seems better than the last,” Butler says. “Deep and original.”

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Photography by Kyle Johnson at Melrose Market Studios.