INDIE-FOLK FAVE ISLA MAE STEPS INTO A NEW POP PASSION WITH LATEST SINGLE ‘WHAT LOVE WILL DO TO YOU’

SINGLE REVIEW | ISLA MAE – WHAT LOVE WILL DO TO YOU by Martha Munro

For Cambridge’s favourite indie-scene-climber Isla Mae, the acoustic folk style has always been her path. Last year, she well and truly proved this with her dreamy, feedback-filled single A Letter To The Moon, but with What Love Will Do To You, coming Friday 25th July – a pop-inspired, angst-ridden, grittier take on her emotive MO – a new path is paved on the way to her third EP release, coming this autumn.

The stylistic shift Mae has made with this fiery new track is by far the most prominent contrast. The faster tempo and more energetic, angry style, whilst still undoubtedly acoustic, moves her music from the folk sphere into the pop, still making her signature, silky harmonies the fingerprint for her sound.

Mae’s ever outstanding lyrics tell a story of both resentment and love, centred around the experience of watching a girl you love fall for a boy who’s undoubtedly bad news: ‘a story of teenage angst,’ as the singer-songwriter herself puts it. This raw, unfiltered, youthful emotion is most clearly conveyed through the vocals, which seriously put this single over the top. Her voice, as ever, is controlled and exquisite, but also takes on a more raw, unedited quality in What Love Will Do To You. It’s strong and emotive, hitting every note but ensuring that the song’s integral, authentic rage isn’t lost, expressed in imperfections and at times, more of a spoken quality.

One of the most charming aspects of Isla Mae’s music is the impressive, irresistible sound she creates with a very simplistic foundation. For instance, this single is set up with deep bass notes and acoustic guitar strumming, built up through the first verse with a main vocal melody, some harmonies, and a cymbal-tap of a drum pattern. Of course, these instruments’ paths have twists and turns later on, but ultimately nothing more is added. It keeps the artist grounded and showcases her true talent: no bells and whistles, just a gifted singer-songwriter telling her stories. This tale directly addresses the boy who is ‘Kicking floors / In a boyband playing punk’ rather than caring for the girl the speaker clearly loves desperately.

The pre-chorus intensifies this youthful angst along with a catchiness that oozes out of the pop-perfect melody, built up by the quickening drum pattern and blanket of harmonies. These vocal lines have a real boygenius quality to them, and in fact, so does this song as a whole; the lyrics are observational and full of youth, much like those of Lucy Dacus, and the vocals take on the rawness of Julien Baker, coming together effortlessly with passion and skill.

And when the chorus hits, it hits: a full, charged, lyrically perfect earworm that embodies catharsis and almost mocks with its lilting vocals, powerful with anger but clearly founded in love: ‘You’re a stone cold stoner / If she showed her mother / She would faint there on the porch / And she’d beg you to leave.’ This chorus was born to be sung live, by both Isla Mae and a full crowd.

In the second verse, once again reduced to that initial bass and guitar combo to re-inject the song with intensity, the vocals are truly to die for. The vocalist still has impeccable control, but there’s the perfect amount of imperfection here, with a more bitter, spoken quality that really teases out all of the emotion in the lyrics. This is also clear in the bridge, which melts in gorgeously from the final, show-off high notes of the second chorus’s hook, ‘That’s what love will do to you.’ The drum pattern becomes more intense, as well as the main melody, which fills up with refrains full of feeling: ‘I bet you don’t need her like I do.’

As the final chorus comes to a close – an abrupt guitar strum ringing out as Mae’s final expression of upset – the effect on the listener is lasting, sticking in the memory as a cathartic, honest, impressive piece, musically and lyrically. Above all, it’s exciting. Isla Mae hasn’t been in the game for very long, but it’s abundantly clear with What Love Will Do To You that she’s not afraid to take risks and see her discography as an adventure to unravel. It’s safe to say that she will only grow further with her upcoming autumn EP.