Clever Girls - "Stonewall"

Photo by Kay Dargin

As we've heard more of the upcoming Clever Girls album, the more we've mentioned their change in sound to something more alt-pop. With "Stonewall," they're going back to indie rock in a serious way. "Stonewall" sounds extremely lo-fi, to a great effect. It feels intensely personal and more of a bedroom recording than we would have expected from the previous singles from Constellations. There is this ongoing noise behind the entire song, and then the feedback and distortion from the instruments. "Stonewall" is an intense song that we can't recommend enough.

Diane Jean (they/them) says of the new song:

"I wrote Stonewall about the distribution of emotional labor in relationships and what is often asked of us AFAB (assigned female at birth) individuals based on our perceived gender identities.  I believe that a lot of my shortcomings within the context of interpersonal relationships were as a result of emotional over exertion, and I really wanted to capture that feeling on this one. You might notice that the vocals on this song sound defeated or exhausted.  To accomplish that, we recorded the main vocal in one take, as a first utterance (I woke up after a near all-nighter at the Studio, and without speaking a word, I recorded it directly from my sleeping bag...literally). Stonewall is really my own anthem of rebellion- against my own perfectionism and against the constant inner monologue that tells me to adapt to others’ needs and expectations."

You can listen to "Stonewall" below. Constellations is due out March 26 on Egghunt Records. You can pre-order a copy here. For more on Clever Girls, check out the artist's website.