Every Monday, “Add of the Week” unveils all the new songs going into the 88Nine on-air playlist, with one hand-picked selection put in the spotlight by a member of our music team.
We’re in the final days of summer, when every beam of sun feels like a precious gift. Dramatic? Yes. Accurate? Also yes. The opening piano chords of Stella Donnelly’s “Cold” run parallel to this sentiment, with brilliant piano splashes and steady, heartbeat-like drums feeling vibrantly foreboding.
Donnelly’s clear, trembling voice floats like one of those glimmering sunbeams you wish you could bottle and uncork on the worst weather days in January. The Australian indie-rocker released her latest full-length, Flood, to Secretly Canadian (her first since 2019’s Beware of the Dogs), again serving up story-songs with an unvarnished stance:
I’ll always be yours to blame
I drag you through the weekend
To wait, and wait, and wait
You turn up when the night is over
Weaving war from the words I told you…
I’m just like you
Cold under the bones
Afraid of those you can’t control
On Flood, the typical guitar-favoring indie-rocker Donnelly turned her home piano into the instrumental focal point, writing while in isolation during the pandemic. Between the keys, Donnelly digs into the insularity of relationship dynamics (whether a romantic relationship or one between a landlord and tenant), presenting dioramas of everyday dramas.
You can listen to "Cold" below and on 88Nine, either by tuning your FM dial in Milwaukee or streaming worldwide.
This week’s other adds
- “Just When I Thought,” Jacob Banks
- “Rough Water,” Coco
- “Go Through You,” Rhett Miller
- “Picture In My Mind (feat. Sam Gellaitry),” PinkPantheress
- “Double Ending,” Dendrons
- “There’d Better Be a Mirrorball,” Arctic Monkeys
- “You’re Not Alone,” Allison Russell (feat. Brandi Carlile)
- “Growing/Dying,” Backseat Lovers