Welsh Alternative Pop Artist 'Aderyn' releases 'Hot Pink!' EP
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‘HOT PINK!’ is my colourful, chaotic confessional diary of a life-altering breakup, told through four indie pop songs. It’s an emotional rollercoaster, with each song exploring a different stage of post-relationship grief - from wanting reassurance, to bitterness, anger, rumination and, eventually, acceptance. I wanted to make a record that a girl going through a breakup could put on and feel all the feelings along with me. Following my EP 'Foreverever', it pushes my diaristic songwriting into new and more experimental territory, with swagger, anger, humour and plenty of glitter along the way.
“ADERYN turns the agony of loving someone who may not love you back into something grungy, intimate and faintly devotional.”
I recorded the EP in West Wales with Gethin Pearson, and we really let the songs dictate where we went sonically. The first thing we did in the studio was create a lo-fi electronic drum beat and Casio synth for ‘Victorians’, which completely took us by surprise because my music has always been so rooted in a live-band sound. I loved having the opportunity to push myself into new territory and explore different genres without losing the personality of the songs.
‘Please’, the opener was written in a 12-minute voice note, and thrums with restraint while asking for a sign that the love is requited. The song builds the tension until the final outro, when Owain Fleetwood Jenkins’ organ (recorded in a Welsh chapel) brings a feeling of rapture.
In ‘Cross Your Mind’, I had fun with the sassy, confident feeling of knowing you live rent-free in your ex’s head. The chorus references my “thigh-high glitter boots”, which is a fun detail because I always wear them for big live shows, so it felt like a wink that the people who come to my gigs would recognise.
“Blending ‘90s teen movie soundtrack nostalgia with riot grrrl grit and irresistible pop hooks.”
I think one of the weirdest parts about leaving a relationship is going back into impersonal encounters and starting again from scratch - ‘FEEL NOTHING!’ is my scathing indictment of the state of play in the current dating scene. The phrase “situationship” is so anathema to me that I think to be alive is to feel deeply and to hurt sometimes. This song is me on my punky little soapbox shouting that I’d rather be heartbroken than feel nothing.
The EP closes on ‘Victorians’, which is probably the rawest, most painful track on the record. It talks pretty bluntly about what went wrong, how I tried and failed to save someone, and ended up losing them. I wanted to embed a feeling of rumination into the song, so the band and I got into the studio and just sat on the floor talking about our (admittedly quite woeful) love lives. Our conversation became really deep as we all shared personal stories, and runs underneath the entire song, warped through layers of effects. Those kinds of moments and buried details are what make a record special to me.
I like to think it ends on a hopeful note, and that listeners will feel a sense of catharsis at the end of the record. Ultimately, the thesis of ‘HOT PINK!’ is that it’s better to have big chaotic feelings than none at all, so even though it’s a heartbreak EP, it holds its head up high and owns it!