The Fat Angel Sings

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Miya Folick grew up listening to female rock artists like Fiona Apple, Alanis Morrisette, and PJ Harvey. These were women she idolized not because they were beautiful, but because they were brave. They weren’t scared to show that life isn’t always picture perfect.  Sometimes we’re rash and illogical. Sometimes we say and do stupid things. Sometimes we get angry. Sometimes we over-analyze things and become paranoid for no reason. Sometimes we get scared. That’s all ok. That’s human.

There was a period where I missed this emotional messiness in music, because I felt like everything was getting so cookie-cutter. But in the last few years, that’s changed. There’s a lot of new artists–women especially–who are putting some depth and grittiness back into music. Miya Folick is relatively new, but based on her last song and this new one, “I Got Drunk,”  taken from the “Strange Darlings” EP .

“How did I miss this lesson when I was young?” sings Miya Folick, restlessly and repeatedly, on the opening track of her debut EP, “Talking With Strangers.” The LA folk-pop singer-songwriter’s latest EP is reverb-soaked and dripping with melancholy, Folick’s raw vulnerability shining across the project with tender delicacy. Her words are as devastating as they are utterly charming; she breaks hearts even as she warms them.

Raised in a Buddhist household and having been influenced the religion’s ritualistic practices from a young age, Folick was inspired by the art of movement and dance and moved to LA after a brief stint in NYC. Forlorn synths intertwine with guitars and Folick’s velvety voice to create a sort of grieving, grunge-folk sound in the same vein of Daughter and Sharon Van Etten. Her lyrics create a direct tunnel into the deep inner-workings of her psyche, and it’s enough to grab at your heartstrings: “Isn’t it obvious to you/ That I want you?” Strange Darlingis highly emotional and personal, with Folick opening her soul for all who will listen. “Will you dream with me?” she asks on the penultimate track; so, will you?.