A newcomer to the UK jazz & soul scene is Liverpudlian songwriter Lois Levin. A young artist with an old-school sound, her vocal fluidity stands out from the crowd. With the release of her new single "Burden", Levin channels her childhood into a song that captures the heartbreak of someone trying to find a way out.
With a Courtney Barnett-esque style of blunt lyricism that captures the reality of a situation, Levin tells us that she wrote the track at the tender age of 15 whilst "a bit pissed off at growing up with an alcoholic parent who constantly let me down". The raw quality of the single makes the track feel like the listener is reading a very personal diary entry from the artist. Levin's witty lyricism and soothing melodies that are scored underneath are reminiscent of a sweet R&B haze, something that Levin locks into deeply.
"I don't think at the time I was able to express verbally the frustration so it drove me to write a song instead that I could perform and be listened to," she says. "The song ultimately says I'm here if you need me, when you need me and when you want to bother with me. "
Being able to express yourself in music is hard enough as it is. But for Levin, to have written this at 15, that is a work of art that we're desperate to see more of.
