Hatchie
Without A Blush
Ivy League
Brisbane-based dream pop singer Hatchie has kicked off anticipation for her debut album, Keepsake, by releasing this brilliant first single, Without A Blush. The album will be out on June 21. The single is her most dream pop sounding track yet, and its lyrics detail a failing relationship with notes of loss, longing, regret and self doubt.
The instrumentals on this track are darker than previous Hatchie tracks, reflecting the lyrics, but in classic Hatchie fashion, still not dark enough for the song to be truly recognised as a ‘sad’ song, and listeners can still easily bob along. An echoey xylophone type sound creates a great riff-like structure throughout the song, and the chorus is uplifting.
“You couldn’t be any cooler if you tried,” is a line that really sticks out in the first verse, as it describes the song’s subject around all these lines about how the relationship is failing, and cues knowing eye rolls from everyone who has been in the same situation, tricked by how cool someone is. Some of the phrasing in the verses, though, feels slightly rushed, like they were really trying to squish the sentences into the melody line.
Verse three is the song’s most relatable, with lines like, “Didn’t take you too long to forget all about us” and “should I have let you be any more than a stupid crush?” They scream longing and regret, things that everyone feels after a break up, or after a relationship has ended, no matter how long it went for.
KIERRA POLLOCK
