Last week I heard Golda May’s voice for the first time. The essential The Wild Is Calling featured a new collaboration between her and a producer named Sandy. The song is called “Lightweights” — it’s a delicate, mellow indie-pop single with a couple of surprising lyrical turns:

It was the combination of distinct voice and unusual lyrics that led me to Golda May’s debut record Say it Back. It was released independently on August 2 and it’s a slice of indie-pop brilliance. May’s lyrics cover familar ground — failed relationships, the risk of being authentic, and anxiety-driven insecurity — with freshness and originality. The musical arrangements vary from stripped-down folk to 90s indie rock to reverb-drenched chamber pop.

The opening track “Let Go” builds from a subdued acoustic guitar and piano line to a orchestral ballad that wouldn’t be out of place on a Phoebe Bridgers record. There’s a great post on her Instagram about the making of this video and how it changed her life:

For me, the record hits its gear on the next song, “Dogbite”. It’s memorable and melodic indie-rock that sounds like it could have come out of the late 90s, wedged between Liz Phair and Garbage on MTV:

That’s a strange and fun video (and I love chunky chihuahuas). Turns out “Dogbite” was the first song she wrote for the record (per her instagram). It’s shocking that a record label didn’t scoop her up on the strength of that single alone. Other tracks cover similar ground: “BBQ” and “I Thought I Liked You” are other fresh takes on vintage alt-rock and grunge, executed flawlessly, and bring to mind bands like The Breeders, Pavement, and Veruca Salt.

The other centerpiece of the album is “Care”. She mentions it in the Instagram post linked above as the second song she finished for the record. It’s on the other end of the spectrum from “Dogbite” – delicate, reflective, and intimate. Golda May can turn a phrase though: “The only way I know how to get you to touch me/was pointing out the parts where it hurt in my body”

Golda May has been releasing music commercially since 2020, and got a bit of coverage from NPR in 2020 for an early single called “Hear Me Out“. She is based in Los Angeles but wrote most of this album when she moved to Seattle for a year. According to another post on her Instagram, the album almost didn’t see the light of day – despite several songs being released over the last year, she couldn’t find a label and feared that the release window was closed. High fives for everyone who talked her out of that thinking.

In the post discussing the album, she ends her description with “I hope it moves you in some way, emotionally or physically or imaginationally. Or if you hate it, that’s ok too, I’ve hated it too.” I hope the record gets the love and attention it deserves.

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