Ada Lea reveals her latest expressive track ‘damn’
Montreal-based singer Ada Lea plays the role of the storyteller in her mournful new track
Photo: Monse Muro
The latest single from Alexandra Levy, who goes by the stage name Ada Lea, tells the tale of a New Year’s Eve party, depicting with eerie accuracy the poignant sense of anti-climax prevalent during many of my New Years’ celebrations.
Told through a series of images intertwined with a reflective stream of consciousness, damn achieves what every piece of art sets out to do — to capture a feeling without explicitly telling the audience what that feeling is. Each line is a carefully placed brushstroke, painting a picture of an immortalised moment in time. This song is a textbook example of the ‘show, don’t tell’ mantra that was shoved down my throat at every possible opportunity during my Creative Writing degree.
Having experienced a fair few New Year’s Eve parties throughout my lifetime, I would say that their outcome is typically one of disappointment; a feeling of expectation that’s rarely fulfilled; the prospect of new beginnings that never really begin. damn charts the course of that let-down, encapsulating the sense of ‘little high, big lows’ that has certainly accompanied many of my big nights out.
The first half of the song sees images rooted in hope and excitement as the thrill of the party washes over the narrator: “Eyes shut, feet quick, really feeling ecstatic / Feelings come and then they go someplace”. The second half sees a dramatic come-down, as she realises that the chaos of the party is simply reflecting the chaos of its attendees: “Now everyone is passed out / Blurry on the edge now / Empty as an effigy waiting to come down”.
damn is a soft but emotionally driven song, one you might imagine played at the crisis of a film as the protagonist stares dramatically out a raindrop-smeared car window. It is haunting, soothing and beautiful; Levy’s gentle vocals and enchanting way with words are the perfect recipe for evoking feeling from deep within any listener.
damn is taken from the upcoming album ‘one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden’, due out on September 24th via Saddle Creek. Pre-order here.
