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Nov 15, 2021 By Caleb Campbell

London-based singer/songwriter Sonia Stein has been on a creative streak during the pandemic, delivering two new EPs in 2020 along with her latest 2021 singles, “Zoom Out” and “Mercury Retrograde.” Along with her new singles, Stein has also been delivering a series of live performance videos she calls the Stein Away Sessions, bringing her glistening soul creations to tranquil natural locales.

As Stein explains, “Stein Away Sessions came about during lockdown. It was an idea to ‘go on tour’ without performing for venues full of people. It combines my love and appreciation for beautiful places in nature and strips down my songs to their very basics which is how they all begin. After sharing her first session back in August, Stein is back today with her performance of “Mercury Retrograde,” premiering with Under the Radar.

For her latest Stein Away Session Stein strips “Mercury Retrograde” back to its barest essentials, leaving the dance grooves, glittery guitars, and polished sheen of the studio version behind. Instead, Stein is accompanied only by piano and the occasional hint of birdsong, letting her immaculate vocal performance and contemplative lyricism shine. Any hint of artifice is left behind, leaving only a lovely slow-burning soul ballad in its wake.

Stein describes the inspirations behind the song, saying: “‘Mercury Retrograde’ was inspired by a conversation with someone who was asking me for advice and every time I came up with a possible solution, he came up with another reason why it wouldn’t work or it wasn’t the right time. It’s about the obstacles and excuses we create for ourselves within our lives to avoid reaching our full potential. I think it’s quite funny that a lot of millennials (including myself) use the phases of the moon and Astrology to make more sense of why we find life challenging or why certain things don’t work out and often they become reasons why we put things off. I wanted to write a song about being able to ride out the challenging times even when it feels like everything is stacked against us and acknowledge that a lot of the time, we are the only thing in the way.”

Check out the song and video below, out now.