Today, we revisit our past Music Discovery Etta Marcus with her debut “sad girl” effort from Ploydor, Heart-Shaped Bruise. While the Londoner hates being called a “sad girl,” the album paints the portrait of someone wounded and mentally hurt.
Track-by-Track Review of Heart-Shaped Bruise
Despite the aggressive lyrics on the opener “Nosebleed,” that defensive undertone morphs into a fear of abandonment on “Crown.” On “Crown,” The guitars thrum Marcus’s unhinged chase after an ex-lover, washing violent images over pure ideologies. Her voice amps up for the second verse, “I don’t care if you think you’re smart / Get your thrill from a broken heart/ I don’t care cause I’ll burn down your palace.”
“Crown is enveloped in vengeance. Everything about it is so insistent, overwhelmingly at times. The song gradually picks away at this corrupt and crowded relationship.”
Statement from Marcus
‘Smile For The Camera’ is sonically the most upbeat song on the record. The strings and drum influence feel like if Artic Monkeys met HUNNY’s “Everything Means Everything Meant Everything.” However, the lyrics reflect a public breakdown of sorts, where doing something completely unconsciously seems impossible.
It’s a mordantly funny but acutely felt song about falling apart in public. I use humor to cope with a lot of things, and this song encapsulates that for me. The storytelling in this is inspired by Fountains of Wayne, a band I grew up listening to.
Marcus via U Discover Music
On “Heart-Shaped Bruise,” Marcus makes melancholy a visceral remembrance. The instrumentals evoke a bit of Dido’s “Thank You,” yet Marcus’s production feels richer and more expansive with violens, guitars, and horns floating around her sadness.
“Leaving you left a heart shaped bruise / Time to time I take my top off and see it in the mirror / Yes its true, there’s a heart shaped bruise / And at night I reach my hand out and feel it with my finger.”
Chorus of “Heart-Shaped Bruise” by Etta Marcus
By the last track, “Parting Song” is that one glance back on life, or perhaps a chapter in life. The dismal lyric, “We’re headstones on a lawn,” leaves a lot of room for questions and interpretations. However, there’s a strong lyrical jest throughout Marcus’s Heart-Shaped Bruise EP that is typical “sad girl” existentialism, with an extra damper in the closer.
What do you think of Etta Marcus’s Heart-Shaped Bruise EP? Let us know in the comments!
