As Flower Face, Ruby McKinnon specializes in a form of gothic folk music that’s a little subtler than the sprawling pop of Ethel Cain or the operatic rock of Chelsea Wolfe. As she readies her fourth full-length, Girl Prometheus, the songs we’ve heard so far lean into somber feelings of self-reflection in the aftermath of an unexpected breakup, aligning her breathy vocals and often minimalist acoustic songwriting with the indie-folk compositions of someone like Phoebe Bridgers instead—although the latest single, “Maniac,” feels defined by its front-and-center acidic lyrics.
“It’s very tongue-in-cheek,” McKinnon says of the song, which feels like a send-up of singer-songwriter acoustic ballads as the vocalist smiles through lyrics like “Here’s to feeling nothing.” “I wrote it as this upbeat little indie pop song that contrasts the uncomfortable honesty of the lyrics. Like how sometimes you have to laugh so you don’t scream and cry. It’s me admitting a lot of unpleasant truths about myself, laying it all out on the table and saying, ‘Yeah, I suck in a lot of ways, but I can acknowledge and accept that’—which is not the case for a lot of people.”
The video features McKinnon singing the track into a TV screen in a nod to the I Saw the TV Glow poster. Check it out below, and stream the track here.
