London songwriter Al Costelloe turns solo with ‘So Neurotic’.
Clash hasn’t heard from Al Costelloe in a hot minute, but her former charges Big Deal were long-time favourites. It’s nice to have her back, a vocalist whose reach could span joyous and outright melancholy in the same song.
A drifting indie pop hymn, ‘So Neurotic’ leads into her stellar new EP, and it’s self-described as “a tongue in cheek ode to anxiety”.
Lyrically, Al details the perils of over-thinking, the coy, wistful melodies building to that refrain: “mama’s got it / sister’s got it / grandma’s got it…so neurotic”.
Discussing the song, she says:
“‘So Neurotic’ was inspired by me chastising myself over not being more like my partner and friends who remain so calm and unflappable in situations that would send me spiralling, and all started by singing the line ‘I wish I, I wish I could be like you’ to myself in the shower. At the time, I was also reading a book about how to stop overthinking and had just read a section about how over worrying/anxious thinking was passed down generationally and was startled and somewhat amused by how obvious this was in my own family and so wanted to explore this idea of the futility of fighting against your own nature.”
Al Costelloe worked alongside producer Ali Chant on the EP, which lands on July 28th.
The full video for ‘So Neurotic’ is out now, a cute clip that features Al being followed around by her demons. Jesse Wong directs, with costumes from Lauren MacDonald – Al adds that the clip aims to “visually represent the feeling of being followed around by anxiety; living in a constant dance with your demons.”
Tune in now.
Photo Credit: Jono White
