If the past year and change has been good for anything, it’s been introspection, the extra time we’ve been afforded with ourselves, to examine what we once considered “normal” so we can move forward with a better understanding of our places and roles in the world. Enter the curious and explorative dream pop of Alicia Clara, an indie artist based in Montreal, releasing her debut EP Outsider/Unusual.
Led by the singles “Five,” “Hazemaze,” and “Stones Like Eyes,” the EP showcases Clara’s songwriting talents and ear for catchy, breezy melodies that match the current winter snow flurries that are currently making their way all over North America. It’s tempting to pop on Outsider/Unusual, wrap yourself in a blanket with a cup of cocoa, and stare out the window. It’s dreamy and contemplative like that, but never loses a gentle sonic comfort.
Alicia Clara’s lyrics are deeply introspective, often efforts to make sense of personal habits, desires, inclinations that may or may not be futile endeavors. Kicking off with the title track, she sings, “Again I look away, I shed a bit of skin, once I own something it loses value, the stars told me it might just be a placebo… I don’t care, I’m happy if it is.” This works as a poetic way of questioning our tendency to seek for completion outside of ourselves, that hollow feeling when we realize that sometimes getting what we think we want doesn’t fulfill us as we’d hoped, and our ultimate choice of whether to stick with that or not.
Photo by Tess Roby
We covered “Hazemaze” back when the single dropped, but hearing it as part of the full release gives it a fresh context, a reminder of the song’s fluid structure, shifting tempos and finding rollicking grooves with a focused ease. This makes it the most dynamic track on the EP, but not the only moment Alicia Clara is able to throw the listener a few curveballs to make the ears perk up.
Lead single “Five” might end up being the favorite of any midwest emo fans that might pop this record on to hear what’s-what; that melodic guitar arpeggio builds so much moody energy. But the song’s refrain dissolves this tension away in what probably ends up being Clara’s most tender vocal moment. Her “oohs” and “aahs” are a great example of how a singer can convey emotion without needing to use words. Plus, the song’s instrumental section gets real trippy in the track’s second half.
With all its imagery of watching, looking out at the world and observing, there is a certain sense of dissolution over the course of the EP that culminates in closer “Faceless.” That imagery itself – facelessness – feels like the ultimate result of all this introspection and observation, a temporary loss of some semblance of self. It’s a song about absence, and trying to regain some simulacrum of a feeling that’s gone.
You can stream Alicia Clara’s Outsider/Unusual via Spotify below. The EP is the first extended release for Montreal’s Hot Tramp Records. Outsider/Unusual was produced by Michael Kalman. Instrumental performers on the album in Kalman, Patrick Drummond, and Luke Pound.