No Transformation is exactly what pop music should sound like in 2020. Largely just omnichord and vocal, with occasional synth, it’s a stunning four-minutes-and-twenty-two seconds of deceptive sweetness that demands repeated listening. Taken alongside its video – directed by fellow artist Tony Oursler, whose previous music video collaborators include Sonic Youth and David Bowie – No Transformation serves as a powerful reminder that true growth can only come from acceptance of where you are right now. Leah Hennessey, lead singer and predominant writer in the band says as much in her description of the song as “…repeating these criticisms I have of myself like a mantra, but instead of comforting myself by saying those things aren’t true or by trying to become someone else I’m realizing that I can only evolve or even be happy if I start from exactly where I am. I’ve spent so much of my life tearing myself apart in the hopes that I’ll rise from my own ashes and this is me breaking that cycle.“

A group of multi-disciplinary artists from New York, Hennessey’s aim is to create vintage pop-obsessed electronic dance punk. No Transformation certainly doesn’t feel like the latter, but it quite emphatically ticks the vintage pop box with its traditional structure and sense of melody. Opening with a simple beat, the song begins with Hennessey’s upfront vocal over a bed of shifting omnichord chords. As the verse unfolds, a simple one-note synth joins in and leads into a chorus backed with additional synth, some sparing guitar, and a satisfyingly deep foundation of bass courtesy of collaborators E.J. O’Hara and Malachy O’Neil. And that’s pretty much it from there on out. The beauty of the song is largely in its simplicity, and I particularly enjoy its hymnal quality (almost like a grown up nursery rhyme), suggested in no small part by the imagery of the lyrics that open the song:

“I know I’m too old / I know I’m too old / I should be a child in a see-through gown / I should be a child in a see-through gown / Singing sweetly out of tune in a stranger’s house / I know I’m too dark / I know I’m too dark / I should be a flower in a sunny park / I should be a flower sunning in the park / Waiting to be picked and picked apart”

Hennessey’s voice is fantastic, and the sparsity of the arrangement really encourages you to lean in and focus on those words, which – as I mentioned earlier – are full of interesting imagery. There’s a weightlessness to her delivery too, which combined with that distinct New York aesthetic, just oozes cool. No Transformation is a beautiful thing. It’s the second of four tracks due to be released by the band this year too, so I’ll be looking out for number three. Clearly an exciting prospect, I’m excited to see what else Hennessey have in store for 2020.

---

You can find Hennessey on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

* This track was discovered via Musosoup. A small fee was paid in exchange for publication. See ‘About / Contact’ page for more details.