“A release which promises to shun streaming services, playlists and social media in order to focus on what really matters, and thus an experiment to judge what exactly is possible within the conditions of the twenty-first century.” That’s how we described daisy, the forthcoming EP from Leilani Patao last month, describing how the Brooklyn (via Los Angeles) based songwriter has decided to forgo all of the soul-destroying aspects of being a contemporary artist to instead focus on the art alone. “Is it possible to share my music properly, pay everyone who was involved, get paid myself, and not have to interact with the many systems in place that make me dread music?” they ask. Only time will tell, but first single ‘Cut’ already sounded all the fresher for it, possessing that emotional authenticity which marked the earlier generations of bedroom pop which relied on little beyond word of mouth.
Latest single ‘BIRD WHISTLE’ continues the style with a meditation on unrequainted romance and its associated masochistic tendencies. A song which forces itself to confront the self-harm of clinging to something which isn’t meant to be, while nevertheless acknowledging the lasting legacy of the feelings. “This is a song about the bird who couldn’t trust the bird feeder, but couldn’t stop going back, and eating like it was forbidden,” Patao explains. “I had this vision when I first decided to stop talking to the person this song is about, of this bird flying through the dark, and colliding with the windshield of a moving car. It’s neither of their fault, but the bird is destroyed, and the car will keep on driving. And now every car, every driver’s seat, every honking of a horn in the distance brings back the feeling of being peeled off a windshield and just walking away.”
Photo by Shannon McMahon