While tomorrow marks the official release of Brooklyn-based songwriter Lizzie No’s latest collection of songs, Halfsies, today we’re getting one last glimpse of what the project has in store. Having already promised an “apocalyptic journey from exile to liberation” with the LP, this theme of stark contrasts comes to a head on the newly unveiled title track, which paints a portrait of trauma as a form of sensory deprivation in a world of overstimulation using colorful instrumental brush strokes that build from lone acoustic guitar to a raucous swell of orchestration.
“Picture Jackson Pollock in an empty airplane hangar, preparing a canvas with basket-woven strips of blue tape before he begins creating a universe of color on top,” No shares, setting up her vision for the track. “Once the paint dries, he pulls the tape away, leaving strips of stark white right up against the chaos. This is the experience of remembering a life warped by trauma. One moment you are in the street level cacophony of ordinary life, and the next moment you are underwater where everything is silent. This is where your pain lives. This is where you place all the most shameful pieces of yourself. This is where the game begins.”
Check out the track below, and pre-order Halfsies before it arrives tomorrow via Thirty Tigers here.
