For Esmé return with their latest album Righteous Woman later this week, but Exclaim! is giving you the chance to hear it in its entirety right now.
Co-created with collaborator Dave Thiel and producer James Bunton, and mastered by Mandy Parnell, the record hears frontwoman Martha Meredith delving into what it means to be a modern, progressive woman. In addition to her own lived experience, she also turned to psych studies researching self objectification, female anger, gaze, cat-calling, depression and body image for writing inspiration.
As such, the resulting music is both extremely personal and universal.
"Righteous Woman is about my trying harder to be a better person: Ultimately a person who, when I go to bed at night, I can live with and maybe even love," Meredith tells Exclaim! "That isn't an easy thing for me. I don't think we live in a culture that encourages us and rewards us for being true to ourselves and to each other. It is especially hard on women. The pressure to be nurturing, accommodating and 'chill' while simultaneously juggling impossible standards for beauty, togetherness, selflessness and all the other bullshit is a lot."
She continues, "Social media and the awful realities of the internet and capitalism/globalization don't help. On the flip side, I carry a lot of guilt about my own immense privilege, and I think that makes truth telling difficult too. Throw my wedding into the mix (queue subsequent panic about self-identity, family legacy, and how to have it all) and I had a hell of a lot of things to get to the bottom of. I wanted to get to the bottom of them though, and I tried my best to crack myself open to share them with you."
Listen to Meredith's musical exploration of all of that by streaming Righteous Woman below. The album is officially out May 25.
Tour dates:
05/31 Toronto, ON - The Drake Underground
06/01 Guelph, ON - DSTRCT
06/14 Peterborough, ON - Gordon Best
07/01 Ottawa, ON - Dominion Day - Canada Agriculture & Food Museum
Co-created with collaborator Dave Thiel and producer James Bunton, and mastered by Mandy Parnell, the record hears frontwoman Martha Meredith delving into what it means to be a modern, progressive woman. In addition to her own lived experience, she also turned to psych studies researching self objectification, female anger, gaze, cat-calling, depression and body image for writing inspiration.
As such, the resulting music is both extremely personal and universal.
"Righteous Woman is about my trying harder to be a better person: Ultimately a person who, when I go to bed at night, I can live with and maybe even love," Meredith tells Exclaim! "That isn't an easy thing for me. I don't think we live in a culture that encourages us and rewards us for being true to ourselves and to each other. It is especially hard on women. The pressure to be nurturing, accommodating and 'chill' while simultaneously juggling impossible standards for beauty, togetherness, selflessness and all the other bullshit is a lot."
She continues, "Social media and the awful realities of the internet and capitalism/globalization don't help. On the flip side, I carry a lot of guilt about my own immense privilege, and I think that makes truth telling difficult too. Throw my wedding into the mix (queue subsequent panic about self-identity, family legacy, and how to have it all) and I had a hell of a lot of things to get to the bottom of. I wanted to get to the bottom of them though, and I tried my best to crack myself open to share them with you."
Listen to Meredith's musical exploration of all of that by streaming Righteous Woman below. The album is officially out May 25.
Tour dates:
05/31 Toronto, ON - The Drake Underground
06/01 Guelph, ON - DSTRCT
06/14 Peterborough, ON - Gordon Best
07/01 Ottawa, ON - Dominion Day - Canada Agriculture & Food Museum