Constance, one-half of synth-pop duo NÉONHÈART, debuts her first solo release today on CelebMix. Entitled “By the Summer,” the song offers a potently vibrating rhythm, along with devil-may-care but I don’t audacity.
Explaining the song, Constance says, “‘By the Summer’ is about the, oh so relatable tumultuous young love type relationship that only seems to hang on by a thread. I’ve always felt myself as a dark romantic – there’s something so poetic in ride or die type love that even when the odds are stacked against you, you’re still holding on to the hope that the winds will change their mind, and really by the summer – who knows.”
Christened Christina Ann O’Connor at birth, the Canadian singer-songwriter’s nom de plume was inspired by, and commemorates, the love and loss of her mother. Along with being renowned for her work with NÉONHÈART, amassing more than 10 million streams on Spotify, she is the founder of by constance, a line of hand crafted candles, incense, and bespoke apparel, which donates a portion of all proceeds to the Good Shepherd Women’s Shelter in Los Angeles.
“By the Summer” opens on a gentle gleaming guitar flowing into a trap-lite-flavored alt-pop tune riding a thumping kick-drum topped by flaring synths and undulating textures. Constance’s initially hushed velvety tones escalate to bright sensuous clarity, infused with velvety surface timbres, and backed by radiant falsetto harmonies. A series of soft breakdowns imbue the harmonics with lush buttery shifts, followed by sumptuous vocal inflections, nuanced by burnished silky hues.
Full of a sense of imminence, the stylishly pulsing melody throbs with palpitating intensity, conveying the welter of emotions love bestows to guile the heart. The lyrics, hopeful yet foreboding, invest the song with susceptibility and optimistic fervency, as well as suggestions of impending poignant fragmentation.
“Oh so exciting / What will it be this time / I say, feel like we’re flying / Next day we’re dying / Just wanna get this right.”
On “By the Summer,” Constance captures the heady energy of thrill-laced love, heightening the song’s delectation with her bewitching voice.