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Now, with her new single “Grandiose Love,” the opener and title track of her upcoming new album, that door bursts wide open. The song is playful, theatrical, and immediate ; a heady burst of sensuality and self-expression. Built on jam sessions with her band, it pulses with instinct rather than polish, driven by Zoee’s desire to “think big and elaborately” and shake off the urge to hold back. The result is tactile and overflowing, like the poetic world it conjures: one of oversized fruits, outstretched arms, and feelings too big to contain. Even the artwork shows the artist carrying a huge heart, wide open to the world. If “The Wave” cracked open the door, “Grandiose Love” kicks it down. This isn’t just a new sound for Zoee, it’s a declaration of joyful excess and rebirth.

First taste of that world? “The Wave,” the album’s lead single, out now. The song swells with feeling with its crashing percussion, dreamy vocals, and a sound that teeters between softness and intensity. The video is equally evocative, a surreal visual echo of the album’s lush, overflowing world. There’s even a personal touch woven in: a sample from Dancer From The Dance, a novel about the 1970s gay scene in New York that Zoee’s late father gave her.

Grandiose Love is Zoee at her most instinctive and expressive. Born from collaborative jam sessions with her band and shaped in the wake of personal upheaval, the album is a kind of sonic treasure map, layered with mantras, surreal imagery, and bursts of joy and longing. “It was about growing into my confidence and not holding back,” Zoee says.

London based avant-pop artist Harriet Zoe Pittard aka Zoee has just shared the second single from her upcoming debut album. Following on the addictive “Microwave,” the anti-romantic ballad “Host” combines “home demo backing vocals with an elaborate baby grand piano solo”.

“‘Host’ describes the disconcertingly replicant-like nature of a once starry-eyed lover who becomes increasingly detached,” she explained. “The video is inspired by The Twilight Zone and was shot on location in a forest close to where I grew up in Berkshire.” Watch the Jacek Zmarz-directed visuals and pre-order the album via Bandcamp below.

After having dropped a few amazing singles here and there since 2016, London-based musician Harriet Zoe Pittard aka Zoee has finally announced the release of her debut album, which she crafted with her long-term musical collaborator Rowan Martin. A mix of hi-fi and lo-fi instrumentation, Flaw Flower draws inspiration from the avant pop of the 80s. It is also an introspective and emotional journey where her real-life phone notes mingle with imagery taken from modern works of literature such as “The Flowering Corpse” by Djuna Barnes, Sylvia Plath‘s “A Winter Ship” and Maggie Nelson‘s “Bluets”.

About the record, she stated:

“I feel like the songs on this album took me deeper into myself, the sad song that I thought was about a boy is still about that but it’s also about loss, about self-determination, about not losing hope, about memory, about domesticity, about detachment, about my dad, about my mum, about change, about feeling incredibly alone, about growing up.”

She has also shared the first single, “Microwave,” which she describes as “a many-sided song about familial dynamics, oppressive domestic settings and the joy found in self validation.” Watch the accompanying video, courtesy of director Daniele d’Ingeo, and pre-order Flaw Flower via Bandcamp below.

Harriet Zoe Pittard is Zoee, a London-based singer with serious vocal chops. And her new single “Used” sounds like nothing out there. Propelled by her operatic singing, “Used” is one of those songs where absolutely everything screams out “earworm”. From the playful, simple synths that effectively hold the song together to the impossibly high-pitched background vocals, every little element here has been engineered to be stuck in your brain as soon as possible. And it works to perfection. “Used” is a classic off-kilter pop anthem, the kind that you once you hear it playing on the background, you immediately have to drop everything you’re doing to Shazam it.

About the track, Zoee detailed:

[su_quote]My song ‘Used’ came about after lots of late autumnal nights spent with my friend Rowan Martin writing songs in my bedroom [they produced the track together] and listening to the Malcolm McClaren album Fans. The album is one of my favorites, fusing opera with 1980s RnB in its own unique way. Listening to that album on repeat led to the initial stages of writing ‘Used’. The song then began to take on a life of its own, especially the concept for it. It feels like a song that doesn’t want to be boxed in or pinned down. Every time I sing the words ‘how long, how long, how long I’ve been used’ I find myself drawing on fresh memories or feelings. Ultimately the song is reflective, it’s an exploration of my own experiences of attachment and the feeling of being used up by a situation or a person, how you can lose yourself and end up feeling like an empty shell. But, it’s also intended to be cathartic – alongside that feeling of emptiness there is a regenerative, restorative energy that’s just as potent.[/su_quote]

It’s also classic pop in the very true meaning of the word: Zoee’s campy vocal delivery is straight out of the 70s playbook – she was aiming for Kate Bush but could only get to Dolly Parton, which makes the whole thing even better. That is half the reason why this song is so good – the other half being its direct, straight-to-the-point production. This song is all about the hooks, and it makes sure that it becomes impossible to miss them. “Used” has been released via PLZ Make It Ruins, a DIY label led by producer Joe Thornalley aka Vegyn (he is credited on Frank Ocean‘s 2016 album Endless). You can listen to “Used” on Bandcamp alongside its highly recommended ARTHUR remix, and you can also watch its official video below.