A paean to the mutability of life delivered in a saucerful of whimsy, the new single ‘Socialite’ by Melbourne-based artist Mayzie is a dreamy ride filled with an inherent melancholic fugue and an air of delicate vulnerability. Deep within its genes is the C86 era of fey and wishful sounds with an antipodean sheen that nods at the sunshine dappled sounds of The Apartments and the Dunedin sounds of The Chills and The Bats (indeed Mayzie hails from Aotearoa, the land of the long white cloud) . The delivery recalls more contemporary sounds of artists like Hatchie but there is something unique Mayzie installs in the song – a certain sense of poignancy and light. She says of the track:
I wrote Socialite after finding an old picture of myself at 21. I just thought about how desperately I wanted to be someone else, to be cooler, older, somewhere less rigid. I wanted to write a song to that version of myself, just to say ‘hang on girl, it’s going to be fine’…it’s about being in your early twenties, feeling that odd sad feeling of nostalgia and grieving for your youth. It’s about looking back on that feeling when you’re older and realising that at twenty-two, life hasn’t even really begun yet.
The result captures that sense of resilience under the shimmering sounds:
‘Socialite’ is out now and available to download and stream here.
Mayzie is launching the single tonight in Melbourne at the Retreat Hotel in Brunswick – details and tickets here.
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