Soft but filled with melancholic energy that is anything but subtle, Izzy Outerspace’s singing is perhaps the most powerful agent of evocation in her new single and music video “Throw Me into the Pool” this summer, but not the only element of grandeur it contains. The bittersweet harmonies are born of opulent string play and angst-ridden vocals the same, and the entire arrangement aches with the rusticity of a vintage Americana piece more than it does even the contemporary indie rock sound most of us are familiar with. Izzy Outerspace is reaching for the stars here, and her efforts yield a truly masterful performance.
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/izzyouterspace
Structurally, this composition supports quite the surreal structure, and the same could certainly be said of the video for “Throw Me into the Pool” as well. The self-consciousness of the lyricism comes alive in elegiac visuals that slowly but surely form a story we can’t turn away from. It’s hypnotic and enigmatic enough to make the narrative here multi-interpretive as opposed to clouded by an overambitious mix, which isn’t something I’ve encountered in a lot of the similarly highbrow alternative content to hit record store shelves in the past six months.
There’s no lusting after the hook in this single, but rather an extension of natural suspense that gets all of us to the edge of our seats by the time we reach the halfway point in the song. The ominous wall of noise accumulating on the backend of “Throw Me into the Pool” feels like a tidal wave soon to suck us asunder, threatening certain doom with every lurching step it makes towards us behind the beat. Hostile energy besets every harmony towards the conclusion of the track, channeling the unreleased catharsis in a manner that is both cleansing and intensely frustrating all at once.
Everything in this song feels deliberately designed to get a strong reaction out of the listeners, and were it not for the compositional heroics here, I don’t think we would be able to appreciate just how phenomenal a talent Izzy Outerspace brings to the game – now on a regular basis. Amazon was such a startlingly raw and poetically far-reaching piece, and from the looks of this technical, powerfully intimate new single, our songstress is evolving exponentially right now, both in and outside of the studio. Her yearning is unfiltered in “Throw Me into the Pool,” as is her majestic skillset as a singer.
Compellingly fluid and surprisingly sharp for a singer/songwriter who has thus far been criminally underrated by the indie press, “Throw Me into the Pool” neither lashes nor batters its audience with melodic detail, but instead uses clandestine methods to overtake our hearts inside of five minutes’ time. Izzy Outerspace has had my attention since last winter, and if she’s giving us a sampling of what she has planned for the rest of 2021 in this release, alternative aficionados will be forced to take notice and reward her with the praise she so easily scores in “Throw Me into the Pool.”
Rachel Townsend