Etta Marcus’ Funeral Service in ‘The Death Of Summer & Other Promises’
Hailing from South London, singer-songwriter Etta Marcus released her long-awaited debut album The Death Of Summer & Other Promises on January 26, 2024, under Polydor Records. Known for her haunting voice and uncanny lyrics about heartbreak and change, Marcus has already developed a name for herself as a prominent figure in the new wave of beats that come from leading stars like Lana Del Rey and Sharon Van Etten.
Marcus performs in a world of her own, where each track differs from the other yet remains just as melodic. In The Death Of Summer & Other Promises (with writers like Matt Maltese and Josh Scarbrow), she mourns the end of a beloved season and reflects on the grief that comes with a changing tide.
The album opens with “Theatre,” Marcus’ strong, easy voice singing through. Quickly the album’s central tone of darkness is set as the beats remain minor and the tone melancholic. As Marcus describes wanting a love like those in the movies, she continues this dark-pop feel mixed with her longing.
The following song “Lovesick Boy Prays” emanates a mashup between artists Alexandria Savior and Melanie Martinez; the outcome is a wispy, yet unsettling track that beckons a second listen. In the previous song, Marcus began to differ from her usual strain of slow start to harder middle with more aggressive instrumentals, and this can be seen again in “Lovesick Boy Prays.” As she sings, “Open a window/I’m finding it harder to breathe/Summer’s on its deathbed/And you’ve no time to grieve,” she uses her actual breaths as the backup beat to her voice. This unusual and incredibly mesmerizing means of music displays not only her growth as an artist but also her dynamism as a creative.
“Snowflake Suzie” covers drug use and what it means to lose a “high.” The song is far more indie-rock based with the use of an electric guitar and static strains over her voice, and yet it continues to find a home on the album covering the death of a typically fun time. By stepping away from the scene (as the song describes), she loses her carefree moments. The next track “Girls That Play” is an upbeat tribute to the women of Marcus’ life. She sings, “Driving beside my team/Look at us, sitting pretty/Nothing comes closer than this/So play it with the windows down,” summoning the feeling of wearing a white dress and running through the rain.
Serving as almost the thesis statement of the collection “Little Wing,” is the sixth song on the album. While Marcus has been mourning the ending of summer as a season, the track places summer as a metaphor for a childhood now lost to adulthood. Opening with the slow notes of a piano, and building up to Ethel Cain-esque passion in the chorus, the song covers the arc of realizing that fall does not mean the end of warm weather, but rather the definitive finale of adolescence. “Meet me in the summer/On the winter’s edge/I could be your baby/Be your grown-up kid/Mother, can you hold me again?”
Following this realization of death is the seventh song “Fruit Flies,” a pure, slow piano ballad that Marcus utilizes as a mantra for grief. “They talk of summer, but when it dies,” Marcus sings, “I’ll watch as I ripen tonight.” Yes, she grows up as the leaves begin to fall off the trees, but in “Fruit Flies” Marcus chooses to no longer grieve over the loss and instead, embrace the aging -- or ripening -- process.
The album closes with “Dog Eyes,” an observation of where Marcus is now. As she says, “My love is ending/Snow keeps on falling,” she reaches the pinnacle of her entire funeral service: summer is over and winter has arrived. Poet Richard Silken in his piece “Little Beast” wrote, “So it’s summer, so it’s suicide” and Etta Marcus, on her album The Death Of Summer & Other Promises, appears to take these words to heart. We are not only grieving a season of fun, freedom, and childhood; we are accepting the new era of change, growth, and snow.