Music News - CRYSTAL releases sophomore EP 'Dead Ends' + single 'Pressure'
29 September 2023 - 0 Comments
Continuing on from the release of her debut EP last year, followed by a string of single releases since then, CRYSTAL is in full force with the release of her sophomore EP Dead Ends, out today.
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Dead Ends, made up of four singles Expectations Suck!, Skin, Break and latest release Pressure, is the accumulation of over two years of work. Written during a turbulent time of change, CRYSTAL was forced to grow up and understand herself in a way she’d never been exposed to before, after moving out of her parents’ house in Wellington to Auckland at the start of 2021.
“Dead Ends is an exploration of difficult situations I’ve faced in the last two years. From lockdown, to abruptly having to move flats, to working in hospo without a plan B – I accidently made a concept EP about my insecurities and the thoughts which were consuming me. I’m deeply fearful and insecure about not living up to the expectations I and society have put on me to achieve my dreams, and I’m definitely not alone in saying that,” explains CRYSTAL.
Her previously released singles sit alongside her final EP track Pressure, CRYSTAL’s first collaboration outside of New Zealand, with local Sydney (now London-based) writer and producer Oscar Sharah (Mel Blue, Abby Bella May).
“I’m a huge King Krule fan, and he has a song called Easy Easy which lyrically I drew a lot of inspiration from for the EP,” says CRYSTAL. “I knew when writing Pressure that I wanted to encapsulate this idea of being a dead-end – of feeling stuck between dreams and reality, and trying to break past that. Since writing Pressure, it’s been my own comfort song to get me through my day job as a barista. It has this cool girl, fake-it-till-you-make-it energy, which you kind of need to manifest when you do feel like a dead end.
“Sonically, I love that this EP explores different sides of pop, from indie, to garage, to trap. It was super fun to explore all these different sides of myself.”
In the making of Dead Ends, CRYSTAL found comfort in the mundane parts of her life, which was an important turning point in finishing the EP. “Slowly over time, I started to accept where I was in life, having not met the goals I’d set for myself. I realised that all the moments in between getting to where I wanted to be and where I currently was, were still my life, and if I wasn’t going to embrace that, I was never going to find happiness.”
Dead Ends is an authentic, honest reflection of the struggles CRYSTAL has lived through in the past couple of years. Learning to navigate the world alone and understanding the weight of adult responsibility and societal pressures while being met with disappointment and frustration, these four tracks eloquently shed light on the daily grind we are expected to fight, in order to try to get ahead in an uneasy world.
To celebrate the release of Dead Ends, CRYSTAL is performing an EP release show at Auckland’s Wine Cellar on 13 October with support from FABLE. Tickets are available now on UTR.
CRYSTAL made her live music debut in 2019 while studying Commercial Music at Massey University, playing Wellington festivals Cuba Dupa and Newtown Festival, and supporting Australian artist KIAN, before ever having released any music online.
Her debut single, My Flowers Are Dead then featured on TVNZ’s body swap comedy series Life Is Easy. Her sophomore release The Chase landed on Spotify's 'New Music Friday AU & NZ', 'Pop n Fresh', and ‘EQUAL AU & NZ’ playlists. Her latest single Break also featured on ZM’s Late Night Show.
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