In case you did not know it yet, Kira Clark and Keith McGraw of Muscle and Marrow founded a new band, So Sensitive, and have an album on the way. Born in reaction to the 2016 US election, Bedroom Drama is in large part a reaction to the masculine, mostly straight world of heavy music. So far, we’ve heard two singles, “What’s A Girl To Do?” and “My Heart is Open“.

Despite being fueled by frustration and anger, the record also features some happy songs, just like their brand new single “Caught In The Dark”. The cheerful synth-pop song is definitely infectious and was inspired by American boy band N’Sync. In their own words:

[su_quote]‘Caught in the Dark’ is the happiest song we’ve ever written. I felt as though I was emerging out of a long bout of unhappiness. Writing this record felt so much better to me than what we were doing before. I remember feeling light and inspired and hopeful and things felt possible again. It’s also about the intensity of being alive and welcoming that intensity… (Don’t wanna be in the world easily/I want to feel it in me/in this bag embodied I’m hungry…I was so tired of feeling vulnerable but that’s life/aren’t I alive?”). The production on this song is inspired by and an ode to NSYNC. We listened to some of their old hits countless times, trying to decipher what makes them so impossibly catchy. We didn’t succeed but this song is our attempt.[/su_quote]

Kira Clark and Keith McGraw, also known as So Sensitive, have earned their stripes in the music industry over the years. Originally based in Oregon and performing under the moniker Muscle and Marrow, Clark was left feeling “reckless and angry” following the results of the 2016 election, wanting to “burn everything down.” Whilst she didn’t do this physically, that’s exactly what she did metaphorically. Accompanied by McGraw, the duo moved to Brooklyn and rose from the ashes of their pain and outrage to form So Senstive.

With their second single “My Heart is Open,” the pair have created an ode to one of Clark’s idols, Courtney Love. Her fascination with complex women, women who have been vilified and hated by the media and the public, is hardly a new one. Yet Clark’s ode here is deeply personal. She said of the track and Courtney Love: “I am in awe of her grit, ambition and belief in herself. She’s messy, complicated and divisive.”

This same sentiment can be felt in the very fabric of “My Heart is Open.” So Sensitive‘s track is undoubtedly framed by the conventions of a classic pop song, yet when paired with the 80’s synth line that feels familiar but multifaceted, this same divisive nature is apparent. The introduction of the oblique, low synths at the end of the track is representative of the vacillating nature of the song, toeing the line between traditional pop values and something more experimental approach. Meanwhile, all of this is underpinned by Clark’s dynamically powerful and undeniably sexy vocals; the breathy moans and carefully curated cracks being the final element that allows the track to truly take off. Listen below.

So Sensitive is a new duo consisting of songwriter and vocalist Kira Clark and drummer and producer Keith McGraw. Formerly based in Portland and recording music as Muscle and Marrow, the duo started to embrace a drastic new sound after the disappointment caused by the 2016’s US election. Feeling reckless and angry, Clark and McGraw decided that it was time to move to Brooklyn and to record under a new moniker. The first album under this new identity, Bedroom Drama, deals with sexual identity, obsession, and sacrifice. It is a feminist collection of sophisticated synth-pop songs where desperation, frustration and liberation collide.

Today, So Sensitive are debuting the first single of the album which was born from an observation of Kira Clark. “I was always the only woman or one of very few at the shows. I had never before been so acutely aware of my embarrassing gender, like an extra appendage, something to quiet,” she explains. Questioning the role of women in our society, the subversive “What’s A Girl To Do?” also comes with a stunning and unsettling video, directed by Chelsy Mitchell. Like most of us, So Sensitive have a lot of things to say and to feel angry about. Listen to their first statement song “What’s A Girl To Do?” below.

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