Surprise Baby is the Los Angeles-based project of musician and songwriter Sarsten Noice and producer Claire Morison. Described as rock and roll cowboy meets indie pop, the two, who are originally from Northwest Montana, use their long-standing relationship as friends and creative partners to craft a sound that is both authentic and captivating.
The upcoming EP is a result of Surprise Baby refusing to be pigeonholed and see’s the two exploring a realm of different genres and sounds. The first single to be released from the EP is “Poison the Well.” The track narrates facing the consequences of your own actions and the desire to change the reality of a situation but ultimately having the resignation that you can’t. Noice confides, “At the time, I was involved with someone who was in another relationship and we were both a part of a tight-knit community (“the well”). At a certain point, it appeared to me that the toxicity of the relationship had permeated our ability to operate in our social scene without causing disruption to our lives and those around us. I was faced with confronting the morality of my own actions as well as some heartbreak because I knew I was never going to be able to fully be with this person.”
Sonically, “Poison the Well” enters with a throbbing beat, echoing harmonies, and a minimalist, eerie atmosphere. Steadily building in intensity, we hear the addition of layered textures and instruments, as Noice sings about the misguided actions that led her down the wrong path. She questions, “If I had never said goodnight, if I had been older when this had started,” as she ponders about what could have been.
Not afraid to speak her truth, Noice shares how she uses songwriting as a way to process her internal world and give intense emotions a way out of her body. She shares, “I try to create imagery that accurately captures a specific feeling and then allow myself to build lyrics in an abstract way, opposed to straightforward storytelling. This I hope leaves the songs open to the listeners’ interpretation.”
Hoping to inspire people to reflect on moments of desire, “Poison the Well” gives us a glimpse of what to expect from the upcoming EP, which will touch on relationships, self-growth, spirituality, and transformation.
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Photograph by India Coombs, provided by LPR
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