Dead Oceans is pleased to announce their new signing, 23-year-old Bristol musician Fenne Lily, and today presents her debut single for the label, “Hypochondriac.” In the world of her music, Fenne’s inveterate vulnerability transforms what-ifs into worse case scenarios, hypotheticals into heartache. This heart-on-sleeve ethos spawned her early songwriting and colored the emotional intensity of her already confessional work. Now, she’s facing this tendency towards emergency head on.
“Hypochondriac” reflects on this struggle and her own role in solving it with urgent honesty. Over breezy guitar, Fenne’s voice is soft, but strong. “The song’s theme was realised immediately; pressure to feel enough but not too much in a time of hyper connectivity, plus a personal reminder to be accountable for and have agency over the part of me that gravitates towards meltdown,” says Fenne. “It’s the first in a collection of tracks addressing myself as both the cause of and solution to my anxieties, as well as a shift in attention from predominantly relationship-based writing to a more self-reflective dialogue.”
Stream/Purchase “Hypochondriac”
Fenne first took North American stages when she opened for Lucy Dacus and Andy Shauf last spring. And while “Hypochondriac” will be an introduction for most, her self-released debut album, 2018’s On Hold, has stuck with many, quietly going viral, garnering play-after-play on streaming services. Starting later this month, she’ll support Dacus on her UK/European tour.