Photo: Silence Aitken-Till

Rising songwriter Molly Payton is aggravated and lustful on “Warm Body”

Molly Payton released an EP called Mess earlier this year, but the 19-year-old is evidently feeling inspired as she’s got another five-track EP called Porcupine coming out on October 14. The New Zealand-born, London-based songwriter named the EP Porcupine because the “title relates to keeping people at arm’s length for fear of getting hurt, plus when I was recording it, I bleached my hair so many times that it broke off at the top and I spent three months looking like a porcupine.”

The first song to be shared is the opener “Warm Body”, which Payton says “is about looking for comfort in people when you’re lonely and letting yourself make mistakes.

“Warm Body” a slow-burning number, which quickly catches fire as Payton starts to weave her tale: “he’s got a problem so he’s just my type / I’m so in love with always having someone on my mind.” Throughout the song we can hear Payton’s spirit rebelling against her isolation and disregarding her better instincts. It’s a mental tussle that keeps “Warm Body” on a knife edge, fusing together beautiful melancholia and burning frustration, coming to a head in the simple but effective cry: “it doesn’t matter to me! / it doesn’t matter who you are / you’re just a warm body, baby.”

You can listen to “Warm Body” on your preferred streaming service or watch the video, created by Silence Aitken-Till via the embed below.

Molly Payton’s Porcupine EP is coming out on October 14 through TMWRK Records. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.