Melissa Weikart - "Testing"

Photo by Malu Franca

Last month we brought you "Ocean," which was a captivating piano based avant pop single. This month, Melissa Weikart has released "Testing" which continues that vibe but gets even more pop and avant at the same time. At times "Testing" sounds like it's going to be a mainstream and straightforward piano ballad, but then the piano starts wandering off in its very own direction. Weikart's vocals sound like she's trying to keep the song along a pre-determined path, but she seems to wander off unexpectedly, too. This isn't a simple song to just put on in the background while you go about your day. "Testing" calmly insists you focus your attention on the song.

Melissa Weikart says of her new song:

"'Testing’ is the oldest song on the album, a song that remained unfinished for a very long time. When I first sat down to write it, I was contending with a lot of dominant narratives about what it meant to be an artist and a woman. I realized a lot of the damaging narratives around women who make art—they don't write their own stuff; they don't produce their own stuff; they have ghostwriters; etc—I was also internalizing these things and, at my worst moments, believing them about myself and others. I was so ashamed and angry with myself—angry that I couldn't clear my head of these demons that kept me and others from writing freely and truthfully. So, ‘Testing’ was born when I sat down to shake these thoughts loose: to do a little spring cleaning about the truths I held to be objective. It's a song about frustration, about being lost in the others' narratives of you and not being able to hear yourself anymore because of them. And there’s also an important element of playfulness that helps counter all the heaviness and poke/have a little fun.”

You can watch the video for "Testing" below. Here, There is due out May 27 on Northern Spy Records, and can be pre-ordered here. For more on Melissa Weikart, check out the artist's website.

Melissa Weikart - "Ocean Song"

Photo by Malu Franca

French-American vocalist, pianist, and composer Melissa Weikart has released a captivating piano based avant pop single, "Ocean Song." Weikart's piano playing on this song isn't like anything you've heard in mainstream pop or alt-rock music. "Ocean Song" is far from a traditional pop song and is much more experimental based. Weikart's vocals are what helps hold the song together, and is the pop part of "avant pop." Her voice is what is going to pull you in with its warmth. This is a captivating song for anyone who likes their music a little to the left of the dial.

Melissa Weikart says of her new song:

“I’ve loved the ocean since I was a kid; a lot of my childhood memories are wrapped up in summers spent running between the freezing cold water and the scorching sand, trying to catch the tallest waves and getting lost in the meditation of the back and forth. Ocean song is a lullaby of reckoning, a return to the self when all the excess is washed away, and it is also a desire to live that journey consumed by somebody else, in hindsight, the act of free falling without a safety net mistaken for deep intimacy.”

You can watch the video for "Ocean Song" below. Here, There will be out May 27 on Northern Spy Records, and can be pre-ordered here. For more on Melissa Weikart, check out the artist's website.