Always restless, always creating, Kris Esfandiari has many projects to her name: King Woman, Miserable, NGHTCRWLR. The latest is Sugar High, a transatlantic collaboration between the Brooklyn-based Esfandiari and Berlin-based songwriter-producer Darcy Baylis, who has worked with Wicca Phase Springs Eternal, Georgia Maq (Camp Cope), Parv0 and Zubin, among others. The duo's upcoming LP, Love Addict, is set to drop later this month, and today (April 2nd), they've offered up the heaviest cut off the album, "Ugly," a menacing mix of rumbling shoegaze and dark R&B, along with its moody, up-close and personal music video.
"I remember 'Ugly' was one of the last songs we wrote for the record," Baylis says. "We were sitting in the studio, with those three chords looping, both kinda saying nothing, and then out of nowhere Kris just comes out with this 'Ugly, running away, don't touch me, always the same.' From there we realized we were writing a song about what ugliness is, the weird ways it manifests in your life, and how to learn to feel deserving of love when you feel like you're not. I think that's also why it's the heaviest song on the record. It's almost like a metal version of Christina Aguilera's 'Beautiful.'"
Esfandiari adds, "I had the lyrics written for another project but I tried singing them over the track and they worked perfectly. This is my favorite song on the album. It's about the struggle of feeling worthy of love and having a hard time getting close with people."
"Ugly" follows up Love Addict's lead single, "Losing," unveiled in March. The full album is due April 28th via Dero Arcade, which you can follow on Instagram. Love Addict is available for pre-order via Bandcamp now — check out the cover art and track listing below.
Love Addict track listing:
Vein
Flowers & Pollution
Alone
Losing
Asleep (Ft. Mirsy)
Ugly
Love Addict
