Artemis Orion is an LA-based independent musician, songwriter, engineer and producer whose brand new and self-made EP ‘honey’ is out today. ‘honey’ is filled with adult lullabies, dreamy bedroom pop that allows you to escape into a softer, safer world.
Stream: ‘honey’ – artemis orion
Escaping into dreams is something we are probably all doing a little too much right now. Reality is chaotic, exhausting and depressing, so why we would want to stay awake in this nightmare? Music provides an escapism in the waking hours, and if powerful enough, we can take it into our dreams as well.
horizons are glistening
wordsmiths are whistling
lovers are listening
to silence that’s deafening
the soft spoken beat of the chest
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering Artemis Orion’s new EP honey (out 20th November). honey is a soothing balm to counteract the friction caused by life. Orion is a one-woman machine who wrote, performed, played on, produced, mixed and mastered the entire record alone in quarantine in LA.
Born in LA but having spent time living in Mississippi and Nashville, Orion’s stage name like her music is an amalgamation of influences and a co-existence of opposing ideas. A combination of two characters in Greek Mythology: Artemis the Virgin Goddess and Orion a mighty huntsman. In the myth, Artemis and Orion become companions in spite of their differences but like all Greek myths, it ended in tragedy when Artemis is lied to by Apollo and kills Orion. In mourning and as a tribute to the friendship they once shared, Artemis places Orion’s body among the stars as a constellation we all still see today.
On first listen, honey feels and sounds like the lovechild of early Priscilla Ahn and Yuna. Soft, ethereal, lullaby bedroom pop, filled with introspective lyrics and dreamy melodies that you can immerse yourself like a musical comfort blanket.
honey
Orion said the concept of the record is “Love: past, present, vices, and virtues.” The six track EP opens with a clicking of a tape recorder, and a muffled lullaby pouring out of the speakers. The music is innocent and soft but the lyrics are filled with fear and uncertainty and unrestrained longing.
Tell me how to take this sticky situation
Dripping from your lips like honey
Tell me how to shake this emotional invasion
Dripping from my lips like honey
I keep coming back for more
“The word “honey” resonated with me in terms of love, lust, and the weight of the emotions or lack thereof. The fear of falling in love for the wrong person, reason, or even out of lust shares the same descriptors as honey: a sweet taste but sticky feeling.”
midnight thoughts
‘midnight thoughts’ is just that: Midnight musings or ruminations, depending on your perspective. Midnight, or 2am is that time when the world is quiet, but your mind can feel like a carousel, endlessly spinning. Orion vocalises those inner thoughts that are kept inside or find their way into our diaries, “All my life I’ve been living on the outside/ Always been around/ Never staying for the long ride alright”.
‘midnight thoughts’ shimmers and bounces against the heaviness of the conversation going around in her head. In Orion’s own words, “‘midnight thoughts’ is about self-reflection, evaluation, and honesty with ourselves and how we interact with the world around us. Often we can get stuck in our own heads and just think about a lot of our life’s journey in what we’ve learned, how it’s impacted us, and if we’re living to our full potential.”
you are your own home
The track opens with a split-second voicemail being left on an unknown person’s phone. ‘you are your own home’ is a sparse electronic pop instrumental in which Orion interrupts with scattered words that seem to float over the music. There is an optimism to ‘you are your own home’, and a reassurance about who you are and where you are going.
why i can’t let go
This is my favourite off the entire EP. When asked about the story behind this song, Orion said, “You’ll never really forget about your first love. You can let them go, but you’ll always hold onto what you had and the ‘what-ifs’.” Those ‘what-ifs’ will drive you insane if you let them.
The song is a languid waltz. You can feel yourself spinning around and around the room to the crackling static of an old recording. ‘why i can’t let go’ is more lyrical of the rest of the record, full of questions about why she can’t let go and all the things she wishes had happened and all things she wishes hadn’t, but she also ends up answering her own question. The song abruptly finishes like a message ending or someone hanging up.
i won’t know the person you’ll be
i wish you could have grown with me
‘one day, we won’t exist’
I think as you get older you become more and more aware of pivotal moments in your life and how those moments will never come around again. There is no bottle for you to uncork and relive the memory again. You also come to the stark realisation that this really is it.
‘one day, we won’t exist.’ is about that. About wanting a moment to never end even though you know it inevitably will one day. “Could we stay here feels comfy/ You and me weekend mornings black coffee/ Dancing in the kitchen/ Your 45s spinning”, Orion sings through the distortion and shimmering piano.
As the bridge comes around, the lyrics begin tripping over each other, the future getting closer and wishes spinning away.
I don’t wanna fight you
I just wanna find you
Safe and sound in my bed
See you when my phone rings
Your name on the lockscreen
Answer to your voice “i miss you big”
Can we get away, can we runaway
‘visions’
Sonically, the song feels like you are your own home; cocooned and safe, that there is an inner peace unfolding but when you listen more closely to the lyrics, you realise the lyrics and the music are telling two different stories.
horizons are glistening
wordsmiths are whistling
lovers are listening
to silence that’s deafening
the soft spoken beat of the chest
“’visions’ is about the reality of a creative during a pandemic. Quarantine either sparked or sparsed creative inspiration — this song plainly reflects the latter and vaguely hints to the former. I wanted to preface where my music’s going. By the time I wrote this song, I felt so burned out from experiences that I pulled inspo from recent kitchen phone calls and voice messages. Despite my state of isolation, those conversations were the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Orion has said that her music is “driven by nostalgia and dreams where she paints a world of dark and dreamy narratives that embodies self-growth and dark optimism.”
Stream Artemis Orion’s debut EP Honey exclusively on Atwood Magazine!
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Stream: ‘honey’ – artemis orion
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