After the demise of her indie-surf outfit Grass Widow in the early 2010s, Bay Area musician Hannah Lew struck out in a number of different directions, with the fiery garage punk of Bridge Collapse and Generation Loss quickly taking the backseat to her foray into coldwave, the aptly titled Cold Beat. It’s been almost five years since that band dropped their last album, War Garden, though Lew has recently announced that she’s finally striking out on her own with her self-titled debut album released under her own name arriving in a few weeks via the Glasgow-based indie label Night School Records.
The first two samples of the record confirmed that these songs continue the chilly electronic sounds of Cold Beat, with the third single “Replica” proving a bit warmer than its predecessors. There’s a bit of New Order and Depeche Mode in its synthy melodies, though it feels just as indebted to Chromatics and the glossy wave of indie-pop that rode in during Grass Widow’s heyday. As for the longing vocals, Lew shares that the song addresses the same type of heartbreak familiar to that canon. “When you have true love in your life it’s easier to name false love, and this song is largely about recognizing a fraudulent love, heartbreaking as it is,” she explains.
Check out “Replica” below, and pre-order Hannah Lew here ahead of its April 10 release.
