Charlotte Ercoli Coe is a videographer and editor who’s worked with Chloë Sevigny, Weyes Blood, Dorian Electra, and Neon Indian. Her work in film and music overlapped when she decided she wanted complete creative control over all artistic facets in her films, which included the music. Alongside each other, her film and music career have simultaneously blossomed: She recently founded Simulacra Pictures and is getting ready to release her sophomore album under the name Charles. She’s shared a couple tracks from her forthcoming album Let’s Start a Family Tonight, and today we get the final single, “Impudent Hussy,” before the album’s release on May 21.
Over a haze of foggy synths and a lo-fi drumbeat, Coe’s vocals are spectral, while her lyrics are striking. “I wish that I had a past I could torture you with / Would you still love me like I love you?” she sings on the latter half of the two-minute song. Despite the hypnotic groove, “Impudent Hussy” is one of the most chilling tracks Charles has released. Like chasing a shadow as the sun sets, its fuzzy new wave lures you in and quickly recedes into the night.
Coe explains that the song was inspired by a very grim moment. “I wrote this wonderfully bitter song on the second darkest day of my life. I felt like Quasimodo—permanently marked territory that no one would ever come near again. It’s about feeling imprisoned and capitulating to the idea of completely giving up on having a decent life. The day I recorded it is also the day I went to a birthday party and met the person who spurred on ‘Rex Harrison,’ who pulled me out of that nonsense thinking entirely,” she reveals.
Hear “Impudent Hussy” below.
