There’s something great about a song that doesn’t waste any time drawing you into its world. Take a song like “Jack” by U.S. Girls: less than a second in, and the listener is already immersed in a seedy, grungy glam underworld. It’s the mark of an artist in complete control, an artist who knows their sound and knows what they want to achieve with their music. “collar,” the new song by alt-pop maven sophie meiers (deliberately lowercase, e e cummings style), proves that meiers is exactly that type of artist.
“collar” establishes its sound right from the start. As deceptively busy drums rattle and tap in the background, a louche bass riff begins to play, chilled out yet somewhat menacing. It sounds like a Red Hot Chili Peppers bass line idly flicking a switchblade, and it sets the mood: this song is intimate and oddly sweet, but there is always a slight hint of danger in the air.
Interestingly, meiers describes “collar” as a much more straightforward love song. In a characteristically lowercase statement, they said: “collar’ is a song about intoxication, indulgence, wanting, and euphoria. i wanted to embody the feeling of your heart racing, and the lulling warmth in between. it is about words hanging in the air, unspoken and magnetic, filling space with blood orange light. it’s rare for me to write a song that feels so overwhelmingly happy and glowy.”
And there is, indeed, love hanging in the air alongside the danger. When meiers sings, their voice is a soft-spoken, throaty murmur, the kind of voice you use when you’re speaking to someone resting on the same pillow as you. “Haven’t really got a chance to tell you how I feel/my chest feels weird,” they sing, as though trying to come to terms with an unfamiliar sensation. Soon, though, they get a grasp of it, and the lyrics take a more suggestive turn. When meiers sings “my throat gets dry around you,” the sheer intimacy of the song, and the inclusion of a leering guitar, suggests two different meanings of the word “around.” And when they mention their thoughts turning to their lover “pulling on the collar of my dress,” it feels coy yet deeply straightforward at the same time.
“collar” proves that an artist’s unique aesthetic doesn’t have to change depending on the song. Although meiers has a grunge-meets-Lynch aesthetic, they don’t tone down the uniquely askew songwriting that makes them such a compelling artist. “collar” may be somewhat menacing and elliptical, but it’s a love song after all–and a very good one.
