‘I don’t wannna die. I just wanna sleep awhile, maybe forever.’ Here comes Emma-Jean Thackray with a January anthem if ever there was one, with her new single, ‘Wanna Die.’

The producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist shares with us the first track from her upcoming album, Weirdo, out 25th April. Released via Gilles Peterson’s celebrated Brownswood Recordings (Yussef Dayes, Shabaka), Thackray’s new single is not straight up Jazz as we know it but something more quirky, weird if you will, that pulls in her many different influences from Grunge to Soul & Pop. Speaking openly about her struggles with mental health, the track is equal parts defiant and honest. Thackray continually cranks up the production, increasingly frenzied until it feels like we are on an intergalactic trip escaping the mundanity of our everyday problems.

“I think we need to talk about the dark shit in our heads, and finding the humour in it only makes that easier. The lyrics to this are very diary-esque, like confessional poetry, and the bare emotion of it is balanced out with lush jazz harmony, sweeping synths, and a pop punk silliness. When you centre in on the silliness it’s easier to speak on your pain, and easier for others to hear it.” – Emma-Jean Thackray

Check out the self-directed video below…