Back in June we were rocked by “Bloodbag”, the visceral single from Newcastle songwriter IMOGEN. Today she reveals that she’ll be releasing an EP, also called Bloodbag, on September 30, and has shared a new song called “Lioncub”. She says:
“I originally wrote this song at the piano in a Goldsmiths practice room when I had just left Newcastle. I was dealing with conflicting feelings of homesickness, important relationships dissolving, childhood disappearing and entering into what I felt was an identity-less version of myself who didn’t know who, what or where she was meant to be.
“To me, Lioncub represents a complex self-questioning time between childhood and womanhood and the danger of searching for something that no longer serves you – questioning whether it ever really did – it’s the dangerous side of nostalgia.”
The opening image of the song, “I once played with a lioncub / he tied the sun around me and I couldn’t break free,” is one of the most compelling introductions we’ve heard for a while; a truly vivid way of describing the difficulty of transition from youth to adulthood. “Lioncub” only grows more stark and affecting from there, the electronic beats soft but powerful behind IMOGEN’s caressing voice, dropping in and out to add dramatic effect to her already striking words. As the song culminates with the troubled chorus, “when will this end?”, we float with IMOGEN in her restless dreams. But there’s no answer offered in “Lioncub”, instead the potent uncertainty remains under our skin, long after the song has ended.
Listen to “Lioncub” below or on your preferred platform.
IMOGEN’s Bloodbag EP comes out on September 30. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
