Premiere: “Santa Muerte” by Brodka
In the song named after the skeleton folk saint, the Polish singer considers a new perspective on death
Poland saw Monika Brodka (from the mountain village of Zywiec) rise to fame as the winner of 2004’s Polish Pop idol. No longer a teenager, the alt-pop singer-songwriter—under the name Brodka—will release her first English language album Clashes in two weeks (13 May), on Play It Again Sam. In her recent music video for “Horses,” Brodka channels the stare-into-your-soul aspect of Robyn with utmost eloquence. And you’d be surprised to learn that English isn’t her native tongue as she commandeers her lyrics.
Brodka plays around with a lot of different genres within Clashes (screaming punk rock in “My Name is Youth” to the experimental voice manipulation in instrumental “Kyrie”), but her voice finds an appropriate place in each. In the otherworldly folk landscape of “Santa Muerte,” premiering here on CH, Brodka transports us to a mystical desert. Inspired by a trip she took to Mexico, “Santa Muerte” is named after the skeleton folk saint of death. “I was really surprised by how people treat death there,” she tells CH. “Young kids from a very early age are taught not to see it as something depressing, but something that tells you about the next life, and not really in a sad way. The song is like a conversation with death but treating it as a conversation with a friend. We have this relationship with death all of our lives.”
Clashes is available for pre-order on iTunes.
Image courtesy of Monika Hiresy
