We’ve long subscribed to the music and message of For Esmé, the Toronto-based electronic music project of Martha Meredith. A few weeks back we hyped For Esmé’s brilliant track “Doubtmouth”, which explored Meredith’s struggles to dim herself down in the work place. And now, as we approach the May 25 release of For Esmé’s new LP Righteous Woman, she returns with “For Others,” an equally introspective song about marriage, motherhood, and the concept of love.
We’ll let Meredith take it from here, as it’s her wisdom that provides an intriguing context to this composition.
“My most recent single, ‘For Others’ is a personal unravelling of the gendered legacies of marriage and motherhood, begging the tough questions about the families that we make and the families that raise us,” she writes on Facebook. “About what we carry forward and what we leave behind. A central force in creating Righteous Woman was the anxiety that surrounded marriage for me. No qualms about a future with my best friend and partner of forever @cbierk, but a fear of what marriage means for one’s self-identity.”
She adds: “To be candid, I was also nervous if the glossy, youth-driven, instant gratification, heavy on branding part of the music industry would be able to embrace this part of who I am and what I want for myself. Marriage isn’t super rock and roll. In the end, August 19 last summer was one of the best days of my life. Not just because I got to marry my best friend, but because of LOVE. All around us, intergenerational, inter-family, friends that are family, family that are friends. Dancing my hardest to ‘I Feel Love’ under the stars and letting the song and my body say everything I needed to (shout out to Saxsyndrum for the special late night dance party). The world hardens us so much, and love is everything. This morning I am thinking about love and about gratitude and just hopeful that we can all inject a bit more love into today, and every day.”
Cheers to that. Listen to “For Others” below.
Featured image by Laura-Lynn Petrick.