A much-needed emotional catharsis
Usually composing upbeat indie-pop girl tunes for the masses, Erika Spring Forster of Au Revoir Simone and Nice as Fuck steps away from her identity as a post-punk vocalist and keyboardist to bring us darker, more sensitive material.
Her previous work with Au Revoir, which was featured on the 2017 Twin Peaks reboot and her 2012 solo EP Erika Spring evoke rather mysterious sentiments but are ultimately upbeat and lighthearted. Older songs of hers like “Happy at Your Gate,” “Hidden” and “Like a Fire” are highly danceable, while still consisting of heavily elegiac prose.
Forster’s ability to draft highly expressive lyrics proves, once again, to be one of her strong suits in her most recent release Scars. As the title suggests, this EP conveys a more vulnerable and melancholy state of being. Released on October 5th through independent record label Cascine, Scars deals with her recent emotional transition into motherhood by exposing her struggles and life experiences through unrestrained lyrics.
Opening with “Close to Here,” a slow-rolling drum beat accompanied by the sounds of rainfall captures the density of her passion regarding attachment. “I was too close to notice you weren’t there… How could I recognize you?” she asks an unknown someone. “Less” is a bit more upbeat in sound, but still communicates a lack of certainty about someone or something with lyrics like “Less you know why and less you’re asking, the less you know… Who is stopping you from waking up the rest of them?” Whom this could be referring to is unknown, but the catharsis continues with the intense instrumental ballad “Radiate,” which incorporates strings, a heavy drum beat and a vocal beat, along with the lyrics, “I came to watch you wake,” a possible reference to the previous song.
Continuing with “Scars” and “Divided Waters,” soft piano melodies drive her lyrics of desire and patience with life’s sensitive struggles. “Scars” arouses feelings of connection and solidarity with talk of “wanting something before you even know it exists” overlapping bird sounds and going on to say “the dream is awake and we know it, so we win, or we wait, or we’re let down.” Most everyone can relate to these feelings of hope and desire, and sometimes getting knocked down by the waves of life.
“Divided Waters” brings this emotional catharsis to a halt, closing the EP with a rosier composition of sanguine vocals and a harmonic symphony of piano ballads and synthesizer beats. Still pouring out her heart with lyrics like “you stayed until she left, and never said goodbye,” she concludes with “the problem isn’t yours, divided waters.”
Ending on a positive tone, one of more hopeful prospects, Forster’s second solo EP gives audiences and herself the cathartic ability to move on and to accept one’s current standing in life and the closing of relationships. Scars shows that it is okay to embrace the rising waters and to carry pain, and gives hope that we will all someday be able to grow from these experiences.
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