Jen Razavi has shared her debut single as a solo artist with the release of the dark-pop influenced “Saw In Half.” Fans of The Bombpops will no doubt recognize her as the singer and guitarist for the pop-punk outfit. But not all the songs Razavi wrote seemed to mesh with the band’s sound, which led her to begin compiling the music that would fuel her solo project, influenced by contemporaries like K. Flay and Swedish experimentalists The Cardigans.
Razavi’s first single “Saw In Half” melds her love of haunting pop atmospherics with the hard-hitting melodrama woven into her lyricism. One that visualizes a toxically one-sided relationship as similar to the one between a magician and their assistant. “I’m the girl you saw in half / Your grand finale, the final act,” she lulls against the tumbling rhythm of acoustic strums and gloaming tones.
A remanent of her pop-punk sensibilities, the single tunes its dreary melancholy to a melody that’s anything but gloomy. As the chorus surges forward so too does this swell of sonorous instrumentation — you can even hear the dismal but still electrifying echo of a backing guitar burn somewhere in the background.
“Saw In Half” might be a dark-pop ballad but it carries with it all the zealous catharsis that Razavi imbued her songs with The Bombpops with. Her music might exist in the same soundscape as other wistfully moody singer/songwriters like Lana Del Rey and Billie Eilish — but she also exists at a unique intersection of pop-punk and other genres that resist much categorization. If her music can be defined at such an early stage it’s in the captivating imaginativeness of her songwriting and the bewitching spirit that beckons at the center of her latest single. Razavi makes music that invites you to get lost in the theatricality of emotion.
Visit Jen Razavi on their website, Twitter, and Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.
Jen Razavi tour
May 16 – Bristol, UK @ Exchange
May 17 – Southampton, UK @ The Joiners
May 18 – Stamford, UK @ Voodoo Lounge
May 19 – Manchester, UK @ Rebellion
May 20 – Stafford, UK @ Redrum
May 21 – London, UK @ Underworld
May 24 – Berlin, DE @ Cortex
May 27 – Budapest, HU @ Ruin Brew
May 31 – Lake Como, IT @ Granozero
June 01 – Bern, CH @ Planetspade
June 02 – Rorschach, CH @ Treppenhaus
June 05 – Lindz, AT @ Sbäm Fest
Words: Steven Ward
Listen to “Saw In Half” the new single from Jen Razavi below!
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