I’m the fire you can’t contain.
There’s no stopping Lewis Lane: The Brooklyn-based indie pop vessel led by Katherine Smith’s remarkable talent is a formidable powerhouse. Her debut Take EP (independently released 12/8/2015) showed off not only a penchant for catchy songcraft, but also her ability to work across multiple styles. The high-octane single “Play” could pass off as a Katy Perry number; the darker HypeMachine charting ballad “Low” and the equally haunting “Demons” recall the intimacy of Florence + the Machine; and the warm and cold fusion of “Take” is reminiscent of CHVRCHES’ highly developed electro-pop. In essence, Lewis Lane’s debut EP did what a debut EP should do: Introduce the artist’s many faces.
One crazy year later, Lewis Lane returns with confidence and force on “Runaway Love,” a song pitting the artist’s determination, independence and perseverance above all else.
Where wide eyes are filled with greed,
where they all come to feed.
On the longest day of the year,
there’ll be no sleeping here.
Where the hopeful meet the scene.
Oh no, not me, oh no, not me.
Listen: “Runaway Love” – Lewis Lane
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/295530080?secret_token=s-3qOZq” params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”150″ iframe=”true” /]Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering Lewis Lane’s “Runaway Love,” an unapologetic self-empowered anthem. What better way to remind the world of your presence, than by triumphantly proclaiming yourself to the sun, moon and stars?
Emphatic bells tolls a mesmerizing melody in time with the artist’s voice. The introduction is strong, packing an immediate punch. The symbolic declaration has already begun before the first verse, but as Lane’s lyrics build up her image, the song’s layers become clear.
Cuz I’m the fire you can’t contain
but you won’t want to anyway
Oh, the heat feels so good at first
Oh, runaway love feels so good it hurts
Everything comes to a peak in the chorus’ release. “Runaway Love” employs love as a surface-level literal device, and as a metaphor for deeper power. Lewis Lane is the seductress; the irresistible charmer, who asserts her dominance over your delights. “The heat feels so good at first, runaway love feels so good it hurts.” You succumb to her, fall into her, under her. She is in control.
And she doesn’t succumb to anyone or anything else – because she is in control. She is above those fleeting flirtatious fancies, determined to find her way and be sole owner of her destiny.
We see a hint of history shaping Lewis Lane’s ascension in the song’s bridge:
Never trust what’s inside,
cuz desire, desire will justify,
all the burn marks on your skin,
and all the blood you’ve bled for him.
The artist lets down her guard, if only for a verse, to share how desire has guided her in the past. What has it led to? “Burn marks on your skin, and all the blood you’ve bled for him.” For him – not for herself, but for someone else. In other words, these violent delights have violent ends.
Lewis Lane isn’t in it for cheap thrills; she’s seeking something far greater, and sets down that long and winding path on “Runaway Love.” Produced by Russ Flynn and FVCES, the single’s sheen perfectly captures and elevates the artist’s words, catapulting her vision into an embodiment of great expectations that all can enjoy and appreciate.
Lewis Lane finds her voice on “Runaway Love,” a powerful and captivating self-assertion of the artist’s dominion.
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cover photo: Lewis Lane © Josh Robertson
