It’s been just over a year since Anastasia Elliot released “Wish I Could Be Better”, a single that shifted her sound in a completely different direction from anything on her debut album, La Petite Mort. Slower, sexier, and built around a vocal delivery that her fans hasn’t heard from her before, the album left everyone guessing about what is to come next. Would she keep things going in this new slow, synthy direction?
Or blow the whole thing up and start over?
Turns out, it was the latter and, upon first listen her new song “Mayday”, Elliot seems to be heading in her heaviest direction thus far. The song opens with the wail of an air raid siren and, before you’ve had time to process what you’re hearing, the drums and guitar come crashing through. Anastasia hasn’t even sung a note yet and the song has already grabbed you by the throat. It’s aggressive, almost punk rock in its energy… definitely a sound that feels less polished and more raw in comparison to her previous releases.
Sonically, in my opinion, this is the most muscular thing Elliot’s ever put out. Synths that texture her last single are replaced by sharp, snarling guitar work and a rhythm section that sounds like it’s sprinting to keep up with its own panic. This is a song engineered to be played at high volume, in a crowded room by people who are every bit as fed up as she is.
What is it that seems to have Anastasia feeling so aggressive?
According to her: “The world is on fire and everyone knows it. We feel helpless, overwhelmed, and anxious. ‘Mayday’ is about a society that would rather look to anything outside itself to save it than take responsibility and change course. Instead of working together, we point fingers. Mayday is a warning, a desperate call for help. Aliens, if you’re listening, please come save us.”
That idea lands hard, because the song never mistakes its own metaphor for the point. This isn’t really about aliens. As much fun as it is to portray it that way, the single’s actually about helplessness and the sci-fi framing is accurate enough to carry the weight of the promotion in the hopes that people make the deeper connection to the lyrics.
Co-written with Lincoln Parrish (of Cage the Elephant), “Mayday” runs on one of the smartest conceptual flips in recent memory: forget “take me to your leader”; here, it’s humanity doing the begging, hands raised to the sky, hoping somebody out there has a better plan than we do. “Mayday” is the lead single from Mis.Fortune, Elliot’s upcoming EP scheduled to be slowly released over the next few months leading into the New Year, with another single arriving this fall. If this is the opening statement, the short album could be some of the best work of her career. Be sure to play the song below at maximum volume!
Anastasia Elliot – “Mayday”
Stream “Mayday” on Spotify:
Cover photography by Derek Jones
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Disclaimer: All views presented in this album review are those of the reviewer and not necessarily those of Top Shelf Music.
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