A dazzling, dreamy indie pop song full of aching honesty and heartfelt emotion, Sea Lemon’s debut single “Sunday” dwells in bright sonic depths as the Seattle artist reckons with relationships and anxiety, trying to find a balance between her own needs and everyone else’s expectations.
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Stream: “Sunday” – Sea Lemon
Anxiety can and will often get the best of us, shutting us off from the rest of the world and the people we care about the most. Sometimes we need to escape from the present, in order to fix the present and simply heal ourselves; unfortunately, our loved ones don’t always see it that way. Sea Lemon’s debut single reckons with relationships and anxiety, reflecting on those overwhelming thoughts and feelings that can all too easily bring us down. A dazzling, dreamy indie pop song full of aching honesty and heartfelt emotion, “Sunday” dwells in bright sonic depths as the up-and-coming artist takes on the unbearable weight of the world and balancing one’s own needs against everyone else’s expectations and desires.
You stay back on Sunday
How’s it ever gonna be that bad
You come back by Monday
There’s a lot of paperwork in hand
Yeah I know I
I haven’t made that many plans
But it’s over now
Independently released November 4, 2021, “Sunday” packs a glistening, golden, and emotionally relieving gut punch. The brightly buoyant song hits home hard and fast, energizing the soul while speaking to our most vulnerable parts. It’s an enviable blend of catchy music and rich substance – the kind of combination that makes a swift and lasting impression – and the perfect introduction Seattle-based Sea Lemon.
The project of 26-year-old singer, songwriter, and guitarist Natalie Lew, Sea Lemon takes sonic inspirations from “the lush dreamy atmosphere of Alvvays and Chromatics and the bittersweet glittery vibes of The Beach Boys and Rilo Kiley.” Lew’s artistry is said to be rooted in the present, while washed in nostalgia, and “Sunday” is the first peak at her forthcoming debut EP (set for release in 2022).
A bouncy, uptempo beat and cascading, effected electric guitar riffs make “Sunday” as fun to dance to, as it is to dwell in. Sea Lemon rises and shines in a chorus full of heavy, heated emotion and effervescent melodies tinged with melancholy:
And that’s why
Everybody’s in the kitchen on the floor
Can’t forget about the way they closed the door
In their head they repeat the same old joke
But it’s over now
Yeah it’s over now
“My first release, ‘Sunday,’ is a song that’s all about the anxiety and stress that comes with navigating relationships of all kind,” Natalie Lew tell Atwood Magazine. “During the pandemic, when I wasn’t actively interacting with my loved ones, I constantly wondered and overthought about those relationships — would they survive? Was I doing enough?” ‘Sunday’ is a reflection of those feelings I had, and represents how every passing day can feel like a worsening situation.”
Did any friends (or family) of yours seem to resent you because you wouldn’t see them during the height of the pandemic? Disconnect can so easily breed further disconnect and even contempt, worsening a situation to the point where it feels like it’s beyond repair. Speaking from experience, words are not enough: Words help, but actions heal. When you’re not ready to take that action, though – when you still need that boundary in place – you might start to spiral. As Lew says, the worrying increases over time, and while the situation in our heads may not reflect reality, it can feel like things are getting worse day by day (“Can’t forget about the way they closed the door, in their head, they repeat the same old joke…”)
You punch in on Thursday
Every time you show up oh so late
You sleep in on Friday
Wish that anyone was here to say
I know I
I haven’t made that many plans
But it’s over now
And that’s why
Everybody’s in the kitchen on the floor
Can’t forget about the way they closed the door
In their head they repeat the same old joke
But it’s over now
Yeah it’s over now
But all is not lost; while it’s hard to believe that things will turn out okay when you’re caught up in the moment, things really do (for better or worse) work themselves out in the end, and sometimes all that worrying is all for nought. Sea Lemon brings us full circle in “Sunday”:
Do you wanna tell me why I never see your picture anymore
Every time I hear that sound yeah I think about the things I swore
You stay back on Sunday
And that’s why
Everybody’s in the kitchen on the floor
Can’t forget about the way they closed the door
In their head they repeat the same old joke
But it’s over now
Yeah it’s over now
“By the end of the song, you’ve “come back on Sunday” which is a full week from the beginning of the song starting on a Sunday, where the ‘you’ in the song finally realizes that it’ll all turn out okay, and that you can turn the situation around even after so much negativity has gone on in your own mind.”
There’s no denying the beauty or brilliance of Sea Lemon’s debut single. Lew’s music cuts deep.
Of her forthcoming music, she explains, “The song, along with the rest of my upcoming EP, sonically was heavily inspired by Beach House and The Cure, artists that I constantly turn to for inspiration as they portray a bittersweet and nostalgic feeling in their music. Toeing the line between sorrow and happiness, into a grey area of somewhere in the middle, is the kind of sentiment I love to feel and write about when it comes to my music.”
Like those influences, Sea Lemon also finds inspiration in life’s more poignant moments. “Sunday” is as personal as it is all too relatable. An instant earworm, it’s a song we’ll have on repeat long into 2022 and beyond, whether for those indie pop dance parties, some reassurance, or that bit of cathartic, emotional relief. Whether you’re dealing with friends or family, your love life or your home life, work, school, or something else altogether, Sea Lemon’s debut single reminds us that “it’s over now.”
And it’ll all be okay. Probably.
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Stream: “Sunday” – Sea Lemon
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? © Raphael Gaultier
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