Uh oh! We’re starting the semester with an Etownian classic: a writer going into depth on a project by an artist you’ve probably never heard of! The great news is that, as always, in the Campus Life section we are allowed to express individual writers’ opinions. That just means I’m allowed to promise you’ll love this EP if you give it a listen.
This week I am talking about Margaux’s EP “More Brilliant Is the Hand That Throws the Coin.” Firstly, you might be curious about that title. I certainly was. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, there is not any context to be found. To me, the title seems like a part of a quote, or half an idiom, but I was unable to turn anything up online. Perhaps it is just part of the EP’s mysterious quality. It reminds me of something Fiona Apple would title an album. If you are unfamiliar with Fiona Apple, all you need to know at this moment is that she has an album titled with a 90 word poem she had written, which is generally referred to by the first three words “When the Pawn…” However, we are not here today to consider Fiona Apple. If you want to read more about her, consider reading this music review written by Elizabethtown College alumnus, Grace Gibson.
So, who is Margaux? While her name as a musician is a monomer, her full name is Margaux Bouchegnies and she’s around our age. When her EP released in 2019 she was 20 years old and a full time student at The New School in New York City. According to her LinkedIn, Margaux is set to graduate in 2022 and is double majoring in Jazz and Contemporary Music as well as Interdisciplinary Science.
Without knowing more than that and listening to her EP around a dozen times, I’ve decided I want to be her friend and tweeted her to ask if she wants to be friends with me. That’s neither here nor there, but if it works out I’ll let you all know.
So, what’s the deal with this EP? “More Brilliant…” as I’ll be calling it really is more brilliant than most things I’ve heard recently, and that’s from a girl who listens to her Spotify Discover Weekly playlist like it is a religious practice.
“More Brilliant…” is a five track EP that is just over 20 minutes running time. I’ve seen the genre described as dream pop, which incorporates vocal melody with textured instrumentals in an open soundscape. It certainly feels dreamy, and in my experience it is unobtrusive to listen to on loop while working or reading.
The songs are all at a moderate tempo or slower and feel as if they are comfortable moving at their own speed. Margaux’s music does not feel like it is trying to meet expectations, ; it feels like an artistic means of processing the complications of life.
The EP’s opening track, “Cave In,” describes the ending of a relationship, appealing to the listener and telling them “this is your final offer” all the while lamenting the way all things seem to end and sooner than we would like.
The second track, “Faced with Fire,” is a dizzy and gentle sort of love song. It’s rich with imagery to establish an intimate scene of two people together in the candlelight reading as snow falls outside. It’s about being safe and in love, away from all the rest of the world and away from daylight. “Love can make a one-track mind,” Margaux sings, and later wonders “Will you always be mine?” It’s being in love, but with the space for contemplation and anxieties that makes the song feel realistic.
The final track, “Smaller Home,” is as lethargic and dreamlike as they come. While the song repeats “I’m on my way. I’m moving every day,” it feels more like moving through molasses. It’s slow motion, reflected in the line “Time takes longer than you think, dear.” We think life is so short, but it’s still the longest thing we’ll ever experience.
Listening to “More Brilliant…” from Margaux is one way to feel the seconds as they move past us. That awareness, even for a moment, is something rich to hold onto. It’s even more incredible that it’s a gift given by someone going through the same experiences with Zoom University as the rest of us are. Incredible, but also perfectically logical. Margaux looks out at the world, but looks inside herself as well, and manages to present both in a lovely, jazzy and dreamy EP that is a product of the best things of living as a young adult in our world.
