Each song Amber Mark creates is weighted. Her first EP 3:33AM detailed Mark’s emotional state in the aftermath of her mother’s passing with each track tackling a different facet of the black diamond of grief. Her new EP Conexão is a cogent four-song effort that chronicles something almost every of us can relate to: the fire of a relationship from ignition to last fading ember. A short, but powerful glimpse into Mark’s own story of a love that went from explosive passion to burning out to ending the chapter altogether. To punctuate the emotion of the work, Mark even includes a cover of Sade’s “Love Is Stronger Than Pride.”
“Love Me Right” is the second track in the four-chapter story, and already we’ve hit a rock, or a wall as Mark puts it. Where once there was passion, mutual satisfaction, and emotional understanding, now there’s dissonance. Mark puts her heart on the line and communicates her needs, but is continuously left feeling unheard and unfulfilled. Clinging to the good she sees is still prevalent in the relationship, she starts to blame herself for the problems, causing a mild identity crisis. Set to a minimalist bed of downtempo keys and machine-engineered beats, the overlaying of Mark’s purple-velvety voice carries not only the emotional weight of the lyrics, but the majority of the song’s musicality as well. For anyone who’s shared this experience, prepare to get hit right in the feelings.
“Love Me Right” appears on her Conexão EP, out now via PMR/Interscope.
-Taylor Wallace// host, Thursdays 8-11P & Saturdays 2-6P; Producer, Eklektikos with John Aielli