Premiere: Macie Stewart of Ohmme Debuts New Single “Garter Snake”
Debut Solo Album Mouth Full of Glass Is Out September 24th via Orindal Records
Aug 11, 2021
Photography by Ash Dye
Chicago-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Macie Stewart has made a career as a consummate collaborator and a mainstay of the Chicago music scene. They’ve immersed themself in the city’s avant-garde jazz scene, lent their talents as a string arranger to Whitney, SZA, and V.V. Lightbody, and crafted dense experimental rock as one-half of the excellent duo Ohmme.
This fall though we’re are being introduced to Stewart as a solo artist with the release of her upcoming debut album Mouth Full of Glass. She’s already shared her sweeping lead single “Finally,” and today they’re sharing the follow-up, “Garter Snake,” premiering with Under the Radar.
“Garter Snake” is similarly intimate and lovingly arranged as its predecessor, this time finding Stewart reflecting on impenetrable solitude. They envision themself as a garden snake, unnoticed and “new, alone, and awake.” Stewart’s vocals lilt above gentle fingerpicked guitar, initially solitary, only for keyboards and strings to fall into the track like beams of sunlight, breaking through its isolated facade. Later, Sen Morimoto’s saxophone joins the gorgeous swirl of instrumentation, adding a winding highlight to the track. The result is a work of earthen beauty, filtering Stewart’s loneliness and isolation into naturalistic chamber pop delight.
Stewart says of the track, “This song came out of staring at the wall for an unprecedented amount of time. Garter snakes kept coming up in my life- I was going on a lot of outdoor hikes, and they kept appearing in images I was encountering. There are many negative connotations with snakes- but Garter Snakes are harmless at best. I was fascinated by their growth and shedding process and wanted that for myself. Sen Morimoto’s saxophone really tied together the entire vision- it feels like an aural representation of the snake motif that appears throughout the song.”
She continues, saying of the video, “Emily Esperanza had such a beautiful vision of tableaus for the video, and it was a pleasure to work with them. I hadn’t traveled anywhere in over a year- so going to Marfa to stay and work with them was so creatively fulfilling. I am really grateful to them and the beautiful crew I encountered down there for making it all happen.”
Check out the song and video below and pre-order Mouth Full of Glass, out September 24th via Orindal Records.
You can also read our review of Ohmme’s 2020 album Fantasize Your Ghost here.
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