Maddie Ashman’s ‘Her Side’ Exalts the Beauty of the Uncanny
Maddie Ashman, a London-based avant-pop artist, has made waves with her experimental microtonal compositions that blend classic orchestral underpinnings with unconventional electronic elements. She’s drawn attention from BBC 6 Music, Caroline Polachek, and has opened for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Ashman’s latest EP Her Side was co-produced with Gus White and is a further exploration of Ashman’s fascination with alternative tuning systems and the emotional reactions they evoke.
In Ashman’s hands, the familiar becomes beautifully uncanny. A cello can sound like an electric guitar scrape; classic piano plucking is twisted by unexpected note progressions; synths feel oddly natural. Experiencing Ashman’s fresh and unexpected compositions can best be compared to biting into a new fruit for the first time—a little sweet, a little sour, and a note you can’t quite place combined into a taste unlike anything else.
The fluid, floaty harmonies and sweet melody of “Rumours” captures the painful experience of unresolved limerence with someone. If you’re looking for a new song to add to your situationship playlist, this is it. “Do you hear of me too? Are you thinking of me like I think of you?” The lyrics unfold like an undercurrent of relentless thoughts running in the back of the mind, the obsession building to a frantic crescendo. The track ends with a drop into restrained, echoing notes like racing thoughts breaking apart as you fall asleep.
The opening beat of “Jaded” evokes a ticking clock and the pressure of time passing, which is fitting for the song’s introspection about resistance to change because of the fear of what’s on the other side and losing the self you know—“These walls I call my home / These walls are all I’ve ever known / I’m afraid to let them go.” At the end of this track, Ashman flexes her talent for production by densely layering a trippy beat, vocals, and effects into a decadent phonic wave.
Ashman has stated the themes behind Her Side are “things we don’t talk about: intimate or shameful secrets we hold to ourselves, unmet desires, repressed feelings, the toll of societal expectations.” The cutting “She Said” leans into the dissonance between men and women’s experiences with intimacy and judgment: “Almost frightening to imagine how it might be told / while her tea lies cold.”
The melancholic “Seraphim” began as the sparse, microtonal piano riff that opens the track. Ashman played the unfinished song for poet Jessa Brown, who said it reminded her of Cross Bones Graveyard in London, an unconsecrated 17th century graveyard that is the final resting place of sex workers, marginalized communities, and paupers. With this history in mind, Brown wrote the lyrics of “Seraphim” as a haunting tribute to those 15,000 souls. The incisive lyrics, such as—”Each hand that touched me knew me not at all” and “When people want us, they find a way”—perfectly accompany the ethereal harmonies and Ashman’s vocal slides into unconventional intonation.
“In Autumn My Heart Breaks” is an achingly beautiful track reminiscent of Latin chorales. Soaring vocal harmonies blend with sparkling acoustic guitar and electronic effects. Listening to this song feels like attending a symphony playing just for you. It’s a magical, visceral experience that can make the most mundane daily moment feel sublime. “Waterlily” was made for gently waltzing across the kitchen floor when you’re the only one awake. Don’t be fooled by the seemingly simple piano plucking and melody. The notes don’t follow traditional piano tuning, which creates a slightly eerie but beautiful effect that captures the emotional discord when the right actions feel wrong: “Words of praise fall like rain / ever more I’m washed away / I could drown if I stay.”
“Behind Closed Eyes” is an exuberant condensation of Ashman’s songwriting talents: sweeping orchestral elements with a twist, lyrics that are equally poetic and relatable, jarring rhythms and harmonies that tug, tug, tug at your attention and don’t let go. It’s the perfect bookend to an EP that makes a strong case for the appeal of Ashman’s idiosyncratic and fully realized approach to composition and craft. Ashman is the kind of musician who sparks her audience’s obsession over her songwriting and process as she continues to bend the boundaries of genre and convention. Listen to ‘Her Side’ below, and get the latest updates on her releases and performances from her Bandcamp.
