After providing backing vocals on his 2021 single “Feels Like Yesterday,” Detroit singer-songwriter Emily Parrish has teamed up again with fellow Michigander Ian Ruhala (a.k.a. Hala) on her new single “Drown.” Co-written with Ruhala and other frequent collaborator Isaac Burgess, and mastered by John Naclerio, “Drown” is a splendid document of Parrish’s woozy alto and a bright display of her own translation of the bedroom-pop songbook.
“I know you are hurting right now / But I won’t let you drown,” Parrish sings on the refrain. The track wrestles with self-worth while detailing two people being kind to each other in romance: “He calms me down when I’m too high,” she sings, “And I try to put him back on track / And he’ll fall right.” Although Parrish meditates on keeping her surroundings grounded and healthy, her voice is acrobatic and intoxicating, soaring high above Ruhala’s daydream arrangements but never flying too close to the sun.
Listen to “Drown” below.
