Ramona Gonzalez developed her fifth album as Nite Jewel following the dissolution of a 12-year marriage, a separation that coincided with the beginning of a PhD program in musicology at UCLA. Overwhelmed by grief, Gonzalez studied laments by women throughout music history. On “Before I Go,” a song from her forthcoming album No Sun, she preserves the lament’s power to process grief while filtering it through her own brand of low-lit electronic pop.

Where 2017’s Real High leaned on breezy electro-R&B as a vessel for her featherlight voice, “Before I Go” is strikingly spare, taking its time to unfurl an undertow of pulsing Moog synths and keyboards. “Mm, what’s it about?” Gonzalez asks, lilting the question into a wistful, drawn-out plea. “You hesitate to touch the water but I’m swimming out.” The song’s soft-focus backdrop occasionally drifts away to emphasize Gonzalez’s vocals, which move between melancholy and gentle uplift. “I can’t do anything to make you come over to me,” she murmurs later as keys ebb around her. “I heard they said the truth will set you free.” With an atypical ballad that radiates a unique glow, Gonzalez finds a form that can encompass the complexity of the truth.