Synthesising a fresh set of basic influences, the single is at once immediately accessible and mischievously elusive.
Photo: Felix Walworth | Words: Lloyd Bolton
It is a rare thing for a song to leap right out of the speakers and crawl under your skin, more surprising still when you are the one writing it. The questions Katie Von Schleicher brought to 'Elixir', her first new release in the three years since third album 'Consummation', suggest a need to be charmed by her own instincts in an immediate way. She reflected, "How can I reach out to the poems that I've loved, embrace plain speech more, and how, for just one goddamned time, can I bring my sense of humour into my music?" The result feels about as close to her brief as it could have come.
'Elixir', which also features vocals from fellow songwriter and producer Lady Lamb, is an easy song to fall in love with because it offers so many details to fall in love with. Humorously self-conscious lines ("I'm done oversharing, now I'm cool", "I wish I could just get high and drool") provide immediate payoffs, while finer details provide lingering mysteries… like exactly how bars fit before that chorus.
Structurally, the song mirrors the impression of stream of consciousness established by its lyrics, constantly tugging at the rug beneath your feet. A rolling rock verse sets a familiar enough tone, before we shift up in key and a swift series of two bar sections spiral the song towards the chorus, as if arriving at it by musical free association. Where many contemporary rock songs invoke 90s stylings without replacing that era's (already limited) energy of innovation, Von Schleicher puts all of its most enjoyable elements into the service of a more unpredictable song structure. The hook, "It's worth it for a while", could slot comfortably into a Julia Jacklin song, but here its basic charm becomes beautiful in light of the elusive rhythms that build up to it.
At the same time, one can enjoy this song without fixating on its technical details, as befits its ultimately carefree spirit. Von Schleicher is not here to bore you with the details. The verse melody, for example, is repeated almost note for note twice over, first by a soloing guitar and then later in a 'lalalalala' section too casual to be called euphoric. 'Elixir' is a perfect mix of elemental indie jangle and devilishly clever musical ideas subtle enough not to insist on how clever they are. Combined with self-deprecating lyrics filled with arrestingly clever insights, you've got a rather faultless single on your hands.
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