NYC-based artist Joyce Tratnyek builds a dark yet catchy electro-pop pull on new track “Bloody Mary.” Released this past Friday the 13th, the track transforms feelings of identity-based shame into an empowering stylishness, influenced by Tratnyek’s identity as a lesbian — and how previous feelings of shame evolved into an empowering pride. Blending ghostly shoegaze-pop with a danceable, Brooklyn-club energy, it masterfully balances dark, cathartic vulnerability with a catchy, art-pop edge.
A deeply hypnotic bass presence and nocturnal guitar-touched intrigue move with dark entrancement, complemented seamlessly by Tratnyek’s ghostly vocal precision. “Will we learn to escape our heads?” her vocals ask, reflecting on the unavoidable specter of guilt in delivering: “I never went to catholic school / But I still feel like it’s all my fault.” The spacious “in the dark” setting delights in its chilly atmospherics, and arrives seamlessly thereafter in a delectably haunting “I’m your Bloody Mary” hooky declaration.
“You don’t need to tell me, that my scars are beautiful,” the vocals continue following the magnetic chorus, unveiling another melodically memorable moment as brighter synth injections assemble underneath the “I hide in the dark, and wash the blood from my face” cathartic sense of moving-on. The alternations between the hushed, ominous title-touting hook and its more glimmering art-pop verses makes for a constantly climactic, replay-inducing success of a track. We’re excited to hear what’s next from Joyce Tratnyek, who first caught our ears in 2022 with standout track “Do You Think of Me?”
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This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
