The aching heart of Etta Marcus’ debut album

Photo by Milly Cope

When I’m in the throes of a lie on the floor moment during the cold months of the year, I tend to reach for music that mirrors that melancholic feeling. Although it may seem antithetical to getting over the blues, in my experience, accompanying the seasonal depression with songs that speak to those feelings makes things more cathartic. This winter, the album I’ve turned to again and again for that catharsis is “The Death of Summer & Other Promises” by Etta Marcus.

The eight track collection is the debut album for the 22-year-old artist from South London. The emotional and often tragic elements of her songwriting have been compared to Lana Del Rey and Sharon Van Etten, among other indie rock artists. Her vocal style also reminds me a bit of Mitski and Ethel Cain, longing yet powerful. 

“The Death of Summer & Other Promises” isn’t shy about its focus, surrounding the changing of seasons and the losses of its associated joys, most notably summer love. Marcus grieves the relationships, freedoms, and passions of those liberating months of the year. The forlorn energy of the album is most palpably captured within its lyrics, which become even more devastating in Marcus’ spoken rendition that features snippets of lyrics from each of the eight songs:

“Theatre” is the first song of the album and the standout single, with over two million streams on Spotify. Marcus catalogs what she’s willing to fake for the sake of being loved. The song grows steadily with electric guitar and drums to mirror the lyrics pleading for affection, no matter the personal cost. She sings of a willingness to dehumanize oneself, “I'm not flesh, I'm not blood / I am plastic, you are God” for the all too alluring drug of being loved.

In contrast, the voice in the second song “Lovesick Boy Prays” feels more infantile. Still, she talks of all things she’d change about herself for the boy even as she’s “finding it harder to breathe” in the relationship. A track of percussive breathing enters the mix about halfway through the song, amping up the feeling of breathlessness as the dynamic of the love continues to warp. The outro brings the sense of changing oneself to fit another’s mold to its most resonant with a repetition of “If I had wings, I'd cut them off / Give them to you if you asked” while the song drops to scant instrumentation until only Marcus’ voice remains.

The next two songs take a more upbeat tack and switch to a focus on female subjects. “Snowflake Suzie” centers on a past friendship with the titular Suzie that has since fallen apart. It includes a lyrical reference to The Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” seemingly mirroring the almost psychedelic energy of the classic tune’s subject to Suzie. “Girls That Play” is the outlier of the album for me because its bright energy is quite different from the rest. Its driving beat and chant-like lyrics paint summer in a nostalgic light. However, it's more of a girl-power anthem, which to me felt a bit out of place amongst a lineup of songs that lean more somber. 

Intimate moments are recalled in “Skin Parade,” a breezy and heartfelt ballad. With a slow beat, Marcus showcases her vocal range with riffs on the words “parade” and “stay” that are mesmerizing. With an ever-sliding guitar and plinky percussion underneath, the vocals get more echoey as the song continues, creating a unique sonic atmosphere.

Perhaps the most notable memories of summer come from childhood. Those months of almost limitless freedom breed such joy. “Little Wing” is a jaunty retrospective about those memories of and how the perception of them changes as you get older. It plays on the idea of a bird leaving the nest, learning how to fly for the first time. That optimism is reflected in the song’s major key and cheerful guitar, but isn’t without Marcus’ trademark complexity. The bridge outlines a desire to return to childhood, “I could be your baby / Be your grown-up kid / Mother, can you hold me / Again?” and the comforts that come with it.

Second to last is “Fruit Flies,” the shortest song on the album. It features only a solitary guitar alongside Marcus’ aching vocals. This stripped down nature extends even further with the last refrain being acapella. This isolation gives it a tearful energy as Marcus sings of the common ache people feel in desiring love. 

“Dog Eyes” closes out the album, where Marcus is pining for a lost lover while settling a new path forward. The song has a dreamy soundscape with ethereal vocals floating over the top. Asking her partner to “Walk with me 'til we see the end of us” and “Talk with me 'til our throats start closing,” the closure of the relationship is inevitable, but there is a certain strength in how Marcus sings of moving through it together. Rolling drums come in during the closing minute of the song as the love reaches its end but Marcus trods on as the “snow keeps on falling.”

To me, “The Death of Summer & Other Promises” inimitably encapsulates how we retreat into ourselves as the seasons change. Musically, its eerie yet gripping tone reflects the feeling of isolation that comes from winter while still commemorating all there is to love about summer.