By Abigail Clyne
Margaux’s folk-rock EP, More Brilliant is the Hand that Throws the Coin, sees a young artist coming into her own. This impressive debut of meticulously rendered love songs showcase an artist breaking free of authority and asserting her own. Complex but listenable, More Brilliant is the Hand that Throws the Coin is a beautifully crafted and triumphant proclamation from an artist who has much to say.
The grungy bass line of the first track, “Cave In,” threatens to beat the listener, if not Margaux, into submission. Detailing the feeling of being stuck in someone’s perception of you, Margaux does her best to break out of it, “Climbing out of somebody’s memory/ Clinging to what’s clung by family.” The increasing tempo of the chorus “Lay down/ This is your final offer/ Cave in/ Let go of what you wanted,” creates a pressure cooker to test Margaux’s mettle.
Track two, “Faced with Fire,” is a romantic folk gem. The snow globe-like track perfectly distills the overwhelming desire to hole up with a new lover. Ambient guitars, muffled horns, and Margaux’s soft but sweet vocals knit a sonic cashmere blanket to sink into. On the other end of the spectrum, her debut single, “Palm,” is an ambitious affair that pivots around a mid-song transition from one emotional landscape to another. The beginning is cerebral but upbeat, analyzing the complexities of her relationship. But then romantic love takes over, with Margaux singing “My blushing mind is dreaming when I see your face/ Only that I’d love to love you,” and the song blossoms into a lustful sonic bath. The slower tempo and dreamy electronica allow Margaux’s alluring vocals to take center stage, “Call me out/ Your guess is true/ My head and heels/ Are over you.”
“Hot Faced,” a feminist rallying cry against the trap that is politeness, continues Margaux’s journey towards autonomy. Building on themes presented in “Cave In” Margaux grows more comfortable using her voice to push against the bonds of gender norms. “Is it really safe to say/ If I calculate and sing it softly/ Why is yelling not okay/ A woman’s voice is possibly threatening” cheekily encapsulates and eviscerates the hysterical woman trope. Musically, the track is a push and pull, with Margaux’s lilting delivery of the spell-like chorus, “Please and thank you/ Come right in now/ The King will see you/ Let your guard down” contrasted against the free association verses.
The EP closes out with the meditative and musically subdued track, “Smaller Home.” A reflection on childhood and the changes adulthood brings, the song is a fitting end for the Seattle bred, but now New York-based, artist. Her low vocals and the swelling of low brass encapsulate the gravity of growing up. “Older stronger wiser think I am/ I think I am” she sings, a beautiful cap to an EP that’s seen Margaux find her power.
More Brilliant is the Hand that Throws the Coin is out now on Massif Records.