Cardiff five-piece Clwb Fuzz return with the darkly unsettling ‘Sertraline.’ It’s a brilliant slice of dystopian doom pop replete with scything guitars and sinister queasy synths which coalesce to create an ominous backdrop to singer Emily Kocan haunting vocals. Lyrically it is the stuff of nightmares, literally, as Kocan intones “a troubled state of mind, the chemicals align/ An artificial state of mind, peace wasn’t easy to find / Did I really burn my bedroom down? / Did I really watch my sister drown?”
Kocan explains “The song is mostly self-explanatory, I wrote the lyrics when I was 18 or 19 and trying out different SSRIs [selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors]. All but one gave me adverse reactions, numbed me out or gave me extremely vivid and often disturbing dreams. “Sometimes upon waking up in a dream state, I wouldn’t know if what I dreamt was real or not. I think a lot of people experience this, and hearing similar stories from my friends who were also on SSRIs inspired me to write about it.”
It certainly conjures a sense of foreboding and shows why Clwb Fuzz are one of the most interesting and talented young bands to emerge from Cardiff in recent years.
Clwb Fuzz are Joe Woodward (guitar and vocals), Emily Kocan (bass and vocals), Hayden Lewis (guitar), Gruff Roberts (drums) and Cam Wheeler (synth and percussion).