Molly Nilsson: Single. Released May 12 on Dark Skies Association/Night School. Limited to 800 on Black Vinyl, 7″ with insert and DL Code. Art by Molly Nilsson.
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Peek-a-boo! An artist in her songwriting prime, hyperactive with the possibilities of the world despite the global zeitgeist forever shifting, Molly Nilsson sent us 2 new songs around the same time as the tracks for her new album Imaginations that were incredible pop tunes on their own right, yet just too long to fit on Imaginations. Like much else in Molly’s career, we decided to break the mould, not follow album-release protocol, and surprise you all with this double AA a mere fortnight before Imaginations hits the shelves.
About Somebody seems to be about somebody, or maybe even somebody’s body, about desire too, perhaps. How else to interpret the line “Babe I want to party with you every night, and have a hard-on for the rest of my life?” But this is a Molly Nilsson song, and this is Empowering Content. Over a rousing, even anthemic, verse/chorus one-two, a soaring synth-string hook that rides the handclaps beautifully, we‘re soon left wondering whether our beloved narrator is really focusing on the “other” at all. Love lets you down: treat it mean, keep it keen, and remember if you can’t love yourself how the hell are you gonna love some one else?
On the flip, Quit (In Time), is a classic minor-key Nilsson elegy to obsession and addiction, sounding almost close to an early 80s Springsteen love-story. Here we imagine Nilsson at the piano, her heart a resounding bell for all longing. If About Somebody is the tumultuous onset of an affair, here we’re hopelessly drawn to the flame, unable to leave alone that which causes the sweetest pain. It’s a universal theme, the longing for something we shouldn’t have, and Nilsson seems to elucidate the feeling with a precise, razor-sharp lyrical nous that fans will instantly recognise.
Single is about the self and the other; about navigating the love of others that tries to trip us up. But it’s also about you. Single is because you’re worth it.
