Studio 52 is a community artist space located in the heart of Allston, and is proud to support the Boston music scene and local artist community.
The music of Radclyffe Hall has always elicited the type of daydreams that demand either extreme caution or reckless abandon. Dhy Berry’s introspective lyricism and dark, thundering synths combine to create a suspended state of being; the songs enter your eardrums, and the mind follows as the sounds weave in and out through your body. Radclyffe Hall’s music is the type that grabs hold and then pulls you along; its best listened to when you let go of the reality in front of you and allow the music to drift you off elsewhere.
Sometimes that sense of elsewhere has the listener facing demons (see 2014’s haunting “OMG”), while other times it delivers a bit of escapism. The latter is seemingly the case on Radclyffe Hall’s new single, “Run Run Run”, which partners a towering buzzsaw of synths over Berry’s enticing offer to run along “to the next life.”
It’s as seductive as it is ominous. But what are we running from, and what are we running to? Berry promises a good time in this new world she’s promising — but is she trustworthy? Do we take this hand and run away? That devil-on-shoulder-that-might-be-an-angel (or the other way around, depending on your own perspective) is the root of Radclyffe Hall’s modern day pop escapism, and this new single furthers the project’s role as one of the finest, and deepest, electro-pop groups Boston has birthed this decade.
“I enjoy how driving and sinister it sounds,” Berry says of the song in an Atwood Magazine premiere. “The escapism concept of the song doesn’t feel ‘safe’ because the harmony is so sinister. I guess eventually, we all have to deal with our shit.”
The current Radclyffe Hall lineup consists of Berry on vocals, synth, and bass, longtime collaborator Jaqui Rae Stewart on vocals, synth, and piano, and drummer Sean Camargo. Stewart pulls double duty this Saturday at Great Scott in Allston, when Radclyffe Hall take the stage for a Lysten Boston party that features her ethereal solo project RAINE and the electronic pop stylings of Photocomfort.
We won’t tell you to “Run Run Run” to Allston this weekend, because you’re already there. Details on the flyer after the Soundcloud jump.
