Sarah Tudzin has had one hell of a year—most notably her engineering credit on boygenius’ “the Record” nabbing her a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album. But in 2023, Tudzin brought her Illuminati Hotties project back into our hearts with the standalone single “Truck”—her first release since 2022’s “Sandwich Sharer” and her best piece of music since her 2021 album “Let Me Do One More”.
Now, Tudzin has one-upped her own one-upping on “Can’t Be Still,” a song so delightfully infectious and catchy that it very well might be one of the best Illuminati Hotties releases to date. With a sharp, riffing guitar echoing a slice of whistling, a melody of ooos and Tudzin’s steadfast, sugar-sweet lead vocal in tow, “Can’t Be Still” is rock-solid and appraised, by me, with a high replay value—I’m going to be humming that “I can’t be alone now, show me how” line all week.
The new single is a bouncy and twangy indie-rock number that crunches like a freaking Crunch Bar and dances around Tudzin’s snarling vocals. “I find that something I have in common with most people that I talk to lately is the immense fear of and inability to be alone with ourselves,” the songwriter shared of the new recording. “Constant motion, avoidance, restlessness—anything to keep myself from stagnating have always been my coping mechanisms when my inner monologue starts to get loud.”
The Fat Angel Sings 