Minnesotan-born and LA-based artist Katy Morely, A.K.A. Morly’s new EP “In Defense of My Muse” has been released today. And if the rest is as incredible as the titular track, I may have a new favorite artist. Though “Drone Poem (In Defense of My Muse)” is the only vocalized track on the release, it’s already one of the best songs I’ve heard this year.
Beginning with a powerful whirl behind a beat, the track carries shades of Adiemus as it leads to a new-age style choral hum. The hum continues in the background after the artist begins with a subdued but passionate and clear first verse:
You are here
But you’re not listening.
You tell me it’s for your sake
But I didn’t love you
No, I didn’t love you.
Oh, I didn’t love you.
And I know,
I never will.
Added are several distortions and effects, including whirring and the tick-tocking of a grandfather clock. However, these do not feel gimmicky so much as representative of the artist’s increasing pain and anxiety.
In an interview with The Fader, Morely explained the origins of her lyrics:
“I wrote ‘Drone Poem’ thinking about Nick Cave’s 1996 letter to MTV, when he declined his nomination for Best Male Artist…I’d felt how easily, if I’m not careful, my relationship with music could be corrupted and I thought his description of the fragility of his muse and the indignity of subjecting her to judgment and competition was so beautiful. I wanted something simple I could sing to make sure my head is always right—so the poem is, really, in defense of my muse.”
