Premiere: Sonia Stein’s Intimate, Sweet & Smoldering Groove “Mercury Retrograde”

Intimate and deeply grooving, Sonia Stein’s sweetly driving and passionately heated “Mercury Retrograde” reminds us to get out of our own ways – to stop waiting and worrying, and take action.

Stream: “Mercury Retrograde” – Sonia Stein

These mountains weren’t here before I saw them in my mind’s eye, so I think I might make them disappear…

Stirring, sweetly driving, and passionately heated, Sonia Stein’s second single of the year is an expressive, unapologetic mirror held up to the self: A mirror reflecting the truths we don’t necessarily allow ourselves to see or admit in the moment. Intimate and deeply grooving, the cerebral “Mercury Retrograde” reminds us to get out of our heads and out of our own ways – to stop waiting and worrying, and take some action.

You see the reason is I didn’t get a good nights sleep
Something I read made me sad
I got cold feet
You weren’t there to hold me
So I couldn’t concentrate

You see the reason is it’s raining and I need the sun
My Saturns Return makes it difficult
I gotta wait for Monday or a New Moon to start again

Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Mercury Retrograde,” Sonia Stein’s second single release of the year (out September 10, 2021 via Marathon Artists). A London-based pop singer/songwriter who accompanied DIDO on a sold out world tour in 2019, Stein has been actively setting the world on fire since she introduced her music over eight years ago. 2014’s Symbol EP offered visceral insight into an artist exploring not only herself, but also the limits of sound and space; these explorations have continued into the present, where songs like the catchy “Coexist” and the propulsive, flowing “London Used to Feel So Cool” blur genre and familiar timbres while propelling an exciting air of pop majesty. Stein released her third and fourth EPs (See Me Now and Letters) in 2020, and is currently gearing up for a series of 15 unique performances in nature, cleverly titled Stein Away Sessions.

“Stein Away Sessions came about during lockdown. It was an idea to ‘go on tour’ without performing for venues full of people,” Stein explains. “It combines my love and appreciation for beautiful places in nature and strips down my songs to their very basics which is how they all begin. For a while now I have been doing Nature Appreciation Sundays, which is when I post a photo of something beautiful that made me stop in my tracks and I encourage people to do the same, to look around in awe and with curiosity. I loved the idea of bringing my music into the pictures to combine the two things that have been relevant in keeping me grounded and connected over these interesting times. The most amazing thing is feeling the environment respond, the birds join in, and flowers perk up.”

Stein released her first session, a performance of this past July’s effervescent standalone single “Zoom Out” set in a dazzling flower-speckled meadow, in mid-August:

The pandemic seems to have given Stein ample time to reflect and create, and the artist’s latest offering is another dazzling addition to her impressive, fast-expanding catalog. The follow-up to “Zoom Out” finds Stein breaking out of an all-too-relatable funk: “Mercury Retrograde” is an endearing, alluring moment of important self-empowerment. It’s a supportive note-to-self to dismiss the bad thoughts and embrace a can-do attitude. Stein deftly rises to an emotional and sonic high in her groovy chorus:

It’s like I got superpowers but the bad kind
These mountains weren’t here before I saw them in my mind’s eye
So I think I might make them disappear

So then I get to
Ride that wave
Although Mercuries in Retrograde
Although the Stars didn’t align today
And the reasons keep coming
They keep stealing my moments away

“‘Mercury Retrograde’ was inspired by a conversation with someone who was asking me for advice and every time I came up with a possible solution, he came up with another reason why it wouldn’t work or it wasn’t the right time. It’s about the obstacles and excuses we create for ourselves within our lives to avoid reaching our full potential. I think it’s quite funny that a lot of millennials (including myself) use the phases of the moon and Astrology to make more sense of why we find life challenging or why certain things don’t work out, and often they become reasons why we put things off. I wanted to write a song about being able to ride out the challenging times even when it feels like everything is stacked against us and acknowledge that a lot of the time, we are the only thing in the way.”

I wanted to write a song about being able to ride out the challenging times even when it feels like everything is stacked against us.

It’s Pisces season and I’m getting too emotional
If I just make a list of pros and cons I might be sure
I need some validation before I’m legitimate

Another reason is these ducks are out of order
I’ll line them up you’ll see the world will open up for me I Swear to you
It’s just a case of a day or two

“Mercury Retrograde” puts the power back in our hands, which is where it’s technically been the whole time. It’s a seductive groove full of flashy guitars and smoldering vocals radiating raw energy. Stream Sonia Stein’s latest single exclusively on Atwood Magazine!

It’s like I got superpowers but the bad kind
These mountains weren’t here before I saw them in my minds eye
So I think I might make them disappear

So then I get to ride that wave
Although Mercury’s in Retrograde
Although the Stars didn’t align today
And the reasons keep coming
They keep stealing my moments away
Ride that wave
Although mercuries in retrograde
Although nothing seems to be going my way
And the reasons keep coming
They keep stealing my moments away

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Stream: “Mercury Retrograde” – Sonia Stein

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