NYC Scene Report – Stalking Gia, Say She She, & Miriam Clancy

This week’s NYC Scene Report features Stalking Gia blowing out someone’s candles, Say She She getting into some “Trouble,” and Miriam Clancy smashing the trauma of her past.

* Have you ever received a birthday notification on Facebook, and thought, “Ugh, that asshole? I forgot we were still friends on here”?

NYC-based alt-pop artist Stalking Gia has the perfect song to dedicate to that not-so-special someone in your life with her latest single, “Happy Birthday!”

Don’t let the exclamation point fool you, Stalking Gia says the song is “a very bitter birthday anthem to sing to your favorite toxic situation-ship.” Her feelings are made even more clear on “Happy Birthday!” when she sings, “wish I could wish you away.”

For now she’ll have to settle for wishing the person this is directed towards hears the song, and gets the hint. The rest of us can simply enjoy “Happy Birthday!” and it’s stinging barbs.

* Brooklyn-based disco-pop trio Say She She became a favorite here in 2022, and they’re kicking off 2023 by spreading their amazing musical vibe internationally with an overseas tour that begins March 16th, and runs through the 25th.

Say She She’s musical vibe can also be heard on their latest single, “Trouble,” which is off their upcoming 45 b/w “In My Head,” due out February 10th via Karma Chief Records / Colemine Records.

“Trouble” was co-produced by Michael Buckely (Sharon Jones/Dap Kings, Lee Fields/ The Expressions) and Vince Chiarito (Charles Bradley The Extraordinaires, Antibalas) at their analog studio, Hive Mind Recording, in Brooklyn, and was recorded straight to tape.

Combine that killer production with fantastic vocals, and wonderful harmonies, and “Trouble” never sounded so good.

* There are power ballads, and then there are powerful ballads. Miriam Clancy’s “Velveteen” is definitely the latter.

The NYC, by way of New Zealand, artist gets deeply personal on “Velveteen,” which deals with childhood abuse, and the long lasting issues that stem from it.

Discussing “Velveteen” in a statement, Clancy said, “I wrote this song crying into the keys of an old jazz bar piano in our apartment in Queens, faraway from Aotearoa/New Zealand, as I began a reckoning with my childhood abuse, neglect, and mishandling by the local authorities, all while attempting to throw water on the wildfire of justified anger burning in me.”

The result is something incredibly powerful that embraces her personal manifesto, “I may have been let down, and abandoned,” she says, “but I won't do that. I will break the chain. I might be a human torch blazing an endless raging flame, but I will break the chain.”

The video for “Velveteen” features over 50 pages from a recently acquired file from Wellington Police headquarters, as well as a hand drawn map of Clancy’s house, which she drew for her original statement to police when asked to show where her abuse took place. All of these pages are turned into an art piece that Clancy destroys.

“With my trusty sledgehammer I do what needs to be done for myself, for those after me.”

“Velveteen” is off Clancy’s upcoming album, Black Heart, which due out January 20th via Desert Road Records, and you can see the incredibly moving video for the powerful ballad right here.

For more of the best of NYC’s indie music scene, come back next Wednesday, and check out the archives for previous columns.

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