With an infectious and bouncy melody, the latest song from Lillies In The Valley Of Voilets, aka LIVV, shimmies gently between its crisp and punchy drums and glossy keys. It’s ultimately Annie Maxwell’s vocal that lingers after the song has ended, however — her flowing, stream of lyrics seemingly tumbling from her lips with a ferocity and honesty that never dulls.
Maxwell started collaborating with LIVV, real name Aaron Sternick, on her album Keystone and his debut single With You, which ultimately inspired F.E.M., as Sternick describes:
“While working on the [With You], we had a backup single from an early batch of pandemic demos. Annie sent me an incredible voice memo track with hooks galore, and in between the “With You” session we’d come back to this track and bounce ideas off one another. What I see now is that “With You” taught us a lot of lessons about production and developing hooks and grooves that we would apply with MUCH greater success to this new track.”
F.E.M. itself is a take-down of the tech-bro mentality, and it was a very deliberate decision for Sternick to have Maxwell’s voice front and centre:
“The project LIVV actually started as a much more angry concept — welcoming to all kinds of feelings of rage, despair, and loneliness as long as they weren’t coming from cis-male voices. Annie used this song as an opportunity to send up the Bezos/Musk/Zuck technoRATi and offer a healthy dose of appreciation for becoming less online. Annie never minces words or skimps on lyrical delivery, and I am extremely proud of how strongly the message of F.E.M.”
Check out F.E.M. below: