Zella Day's newly released "East of Eden" features a writing style similar to her first single, "Sweet Ophelia", with literary allusions effortlessly intermingling with personal accounts.
Day manages to write all of her lyrics with a literary flair, focusing on the most minute and intimate details in each verse before delving into emotional choruses which leave a wide berth for interpretation, all while wrapping those lyrics in gorgeous melodies and prominent rhythms that pull the entire story together with ease.
A chorus which states "keep me from the cages, under the control, running in the dark, to find East of Eden" that falls in line perfectly with Steinbeck's "the free, roving mind is being pursued, roped, blunted, drugged" while a haunting rhythm and heavy melody ring full of trepidation and longing is too great to ignore and a hard hitting chorus is made lighter by verses which state lines like "pink toes pressed against the carpet, show your face and finish what you started, the record spins, down the alley late night, be my friend, surround me like a satellite" in such a straightforward and storybook way that it's easy to miss their greatness on first listen.
A repetitious bridge that builds up to the chorus' final go round insists on dragging you into the track, if you hadn't already fallen in the first time that piano made its presence known, and the constant repetition "to find East of Eden" overlaid with vocal samples is amazingly hypnotic.
The track features a production as greatly mature as her previous few releases with lyrics that insist on plaintively speaking their truths, even as the melody remains upbeat and interminably addictive.
Listen to the new single below and buy "Sweet Ophelia" and B-side "1965" now.
"East of Eden" Zella Day