Catherine Elms – dark, alternative Welsh songstress returns with ‘Medusa’, a hypnotic, twisted tale of a single that reclaims the age-old Greek myth.
Opening with a slinky piano bass-line, the structure is a stripped back, unusually light arrangement, with whispered to snarling vocals that build throughout:
Enemy, contender, wish I could remember before this mistake
But I have my pride so I keep it all inside
Till my head turns to snakes
Showcased against this brooding setting, the song turns this ancient, cautionary tale into a symbol of power and self-acceptance.
Lyrically, Medusa is about embracing what society tells women to suppress—the rage, the jealousy, the shadow-side and the untamed emotions we’re taught to fear and push away.
It’s an anthem for owning the parts of ourselves that have been labeled too dangerous, too much, or too unseemly.
Elms’ delivery is both subtle and fierce, with a nod to Tori Amos and PJ Harvey but with a presence and persona that is entirely her own.
The music video amplifies this message, with an unsettling, surrealistic theme.
Catherine lies tied to a bed as she wrestles with the two sides of herself, surrounded by snakes and subservient bodies that gradually fall victim to her wild goddess side and Medusa comes out in full form.
Following her debut album I Have Seen It I Do Not Fear It, Elms returns to carve out space for dark, feminist storytelling in music.
The single is out everywhere, now.
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