Me and Ennui Are Friends, Baby

Album review

Much like the image on her album cover, Mary Sarah Chadwick, born in New Zealand but now living in Melbourne, Australia, does not do things by halves. Her raw side is highlighted nicely by a skilled and careful production job. A radical, she opted for no more accompaniment here than a simple, minimal piano. Me & Ennui Are Friends, Baby completes a trilogy that began with the Queen Who Stole The Sky for which she played on the great organ in Melbourne Town Hall. The artist explains that each of her albums is rooted in a lived trauma, an attempt at catharsis, and exorcising her own demons and misfortunes. The destitution in this new album echoes the love woes and a breakup in 2019 followed by the death of her father and of a dear friend. Sarah Mary was tormented and driven into depression to the point of no return by many tragic events. The singer wanted to end her life... A suicide attempt a few weeks before returning to the studio to record this album necessarily marked a starting point, and in a way it became the subject of these new compositions. Alone, facing her piano and her words, Sarah Mary Chadwick struggles against death and despair, trying to find her way to freedom... Poignant moments punctuated by a unique, black humour, these twelve pieces each testify to the wanderings, doubts and lies that one can experience during the search for one's own truth and own identity. The result is a snapshot self-portrait. The artist takes up the sensibilities of a rather select club to which already belong the late Elliott Smith, PJ Harvey or Cat Power. © Yan Céh / Qobuz