Cherry Seraph has one of the best Twitter bios I’ve seen for a while “a skint musician creating some ethereally queer tunes from my home in West Yorkshire” and ‘ethereally queer’ needs to be recognised as a full-on musical genre (it’s head and shoulders above the wonkily-named ‘Chamber Psych’ that’s all over Spotify). It’s the solo project of Sophie Russell and ‘self-destruct’ is her new single.
‘self-destruct’ is a prowl on the dark side of pop/electronica and the subject matter – “an honest and raw self-exploration into the vulnerabilities and intensity of her own psyche” – is reflected in the uneasy delight of the song shifting between major and minor keys. Despite this exploration of Russell’s vulnerability there is a great confidence in the production and arrangement of the track, with languid swirls of synthesisers surrounded by space hopper bass and effervescing snaps, crackles and pops of electronic percussion. I hope Cherry Seraph/Sophie Russell keeps the self-destruct button at arm’s length and carries on releasing songs as great as this.
Cherry Seraph socials: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Bandcamp
Hey you what’s going on
Is everything OK at home
It seems you’ve lost your way again
The spit in your mouth is beginning to foam
Watch
Watch as I self-destruct
The button is there and I’m ready to press
Watch
Watch as I self-destruct
Bathed in red I can only guess
That I’m about to regress
Away from all of my progress
And watch as I self-destruct
The button is there and I’m ready to press
Wait, what
Is there anyone around to call
I don’t think think things are good at home
Lately I’ve been meditating
But this hasn’t stopped me from suffocating
Watch
Watch as I self-destruct
The button is there and I’m ready to press
Watch
Watch as I self-destruct
Bathed in red I can only guess
That I’m about to regress
Away from all of my progress
And watch as I self-destruct
The button is there and I’m ready to press
Watch as I self-destruct
The button is there and I’m ready to press
Watch
Watch as I self-destruct
Bathed in red I can only guess
That I’m about to regress
Away from all of my progress
Watch as I self-destruct
The button is there and I’m ready to press
Watch
Watch
Review by Paul F Cook
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