Indie-pop punks Candy Hearts changed their name to Best Ex in 2017, and they’ve been changing their sound to something a little more synth poppy too. You can very much hear that on these two songs off their upcoming EP Good At Feeling Bad, due May 22 via No Sleep.
Formerly fronting the awesome punky-poppy outfit The Candy Hearts, the chance signing of Mariel Loveland’s incredible new project ‘Best Ex’ came about with not some small level of involvement from former Kerrang Ed James McMahon. Introducing us to her on Twitter, we soon realised we were mutual fans – so it seemed a natural step really, especially once we’d heard her sensational EP ‘Ice Cream Anti-Social’!
Written in an introspective kick after seeing her friend’s band play a great show, making her think of the struggle they’d all been through to make something of themselves, singer-songwriter Mariel Loveland called the song “a sort of anthem to the most insecure parts of myself — the parts that felt like the best I could do was never really good enough.” Demonstrating open-book lyricism coupled with dance arrangements, Best Ex is very much a reflection of Mariel’s coming into her own as both a person and musician.
Ice Cream Anti-Social is a glistening artistic re-imagination for Mariel and only the beginning of this fine new project, which has taken the heartfelt lyricism and hooks from her previous punk leaning work and brought them into looser, poppier arrangements. ‘Girlfriend’, the first single released under Best Ex, was called a “synthpop jam” and “DIY pop charmer” by Billboard (where it premiered last month) and Substream said “the name change comes with a new sound that is downright impossible to resist.”
Songs like ‘February 4th’ and ‘See You Again’ retain some of the more guitar-involved sound of past work, with the former a softer, string-backed ballad and the latter combining the more electronic-leaning sound of Best Ex with some of the rock influence that many associate with Mariel. The EP-closing track ‘Jellyfish’ fittingly features just Mariel singing over a ukelele, bringing a record that explores a lot of sound and emotion to a close with the most intimate spotlight on the words and music of the songwriter at the heart of it all.
The Fat Angel Sings 