HOT PINK! is a four-track EP in which Aderyn (aka Lisa Martin) turns a break-up into a small emotional rollercoaster. The songs don’t stick to one sound; each one follows the mood she was in at the time. It’s short, but it feels complete, and the production carries you from hurt and anger to something that looks a lot like acceptance.
“It’s built into human nature to love without reciprocation, to pour ourselves into deities or people that don’t give us clear answers. Once I started treating religious faith as an allegory for how I felt towards this person, the lyrics poured out”. (Lisa Martin)
The EP opens with “Please“, a raw, melancholic indie rock track where the anger sits just under the surface and never quite gets the chance to explode. There’s a dark, almost hypnotic pull to it, driven by a deep bassline and reverb-heavy guitars that keep circling back on themselves. They’re there to build tension more than carry the melody. It brings to mind the darker side of Soccer Mommy, although Aderyn feels drier and more contained. The lyrics turn romantic uncertainty into a kind of blind faith, and the organ at the end drives the religious imagery home.
“Cross Your Mind” is probably the most carefree-sounding track here, even if the feelings are anything but. It’s bright, fast power pop, with guitars that never sit still and a chorus that gets stuck in your head almost immediately. The Beths are an easy reference point: the same knack for pairing vulnerability with huge melodies, and that feeling of a band sounding like they’re having the best time while everything is quietly falling apart.
“FEEL NOTHING!” takes that energy and makes it rougher around the edges. The guitars are sharp and bright, the drums keep pushing forward, and Aderyn spits the words out like she can barely keep up with them. There’s a strong early-2000s pop-punk streak running through it, just cleaned up and dragged into the present. It gets louder and more frantic without ever becoming heavy-handed. And for a song insisting that it feels nothing, there’s far too much life in it to believe a word.
“Victorians” pulls everything back again. Built around a lo-fi electronic backdrop, it lands somewhere between dream pop and the more romantic side of synth pop. There’s a touch of Wolf Alice in the way it keeps things close and understated while slowly letting the intensity creep in. If you listen closely, you can hear the band talking about their own love lives in the background, little scraps of conversation drifting through the track like memories you weren’t meant to overhear.
By the end, the four songs feel like different versions of the same break-up, each one catching Aderyn in another emotional state. HOT PINK! isn’t just about heartbreak. It’s about feeling everything far too much, even when feeling nothing would be a hell of a lot easier.
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