“I’ll never not love you/I will never be free of your spell.” With these opening lines from “Eve Had the Metallic Shine of Summer,” Marie-Ann Hedonia set the tone for her new EP, “Solar Eclipse,” a journey through broken relationships, lingering wounds, and the ties that refuse to loosen. This is a record that demands full immersion.
For those discovering her now, Marie-Ann Hedonia is a Baltimore-born synthesist and composer known for moving between techno, synth pop, dark ambient, and jazz. She had already carved out her place with albums like “The Inevitable Collapse” (2021), “Marie Ann Hedonia Presents Marie Ann Hedonia” (2022), and “Temporal Dysmorphia” (2023). Against this backdrop, “Solar Eclipse” feels both visceral and expansive, enriched by powerful female voices, including Casey Desmond, Vicki Lynn Tippit, and Delia Liederschuh.
Photos by @light_witch
Delia Liederschuh shifts the album’s energy in “CUNT$MASHEß,” where sensuality collides with rage. Described by Hedonia as sexy and terrifying, her voice transforms the track into a kind of feminist revenge anthem. Driven by pounding beats and sudden structural twists, it showcases the record’s most radical, industrial edge.
According to Delia, she wanted this song to have a feminist message. “It’s really about the growth of a young girl who wants to be looked at, who wants to be sexy. She’s watching the DJ and doesn’t know what it’s like to be heard, and she is easily taken advantage of. Looking at her as a grown woman, though, we see someone who needs protecting. This is a song about growing up and looking back, and preventing pain for our younger selves/younger women.”
She adds that the track weapon is a made-up creation she calls a paw-saw: “a saw attached to the hand of the woman who cuts the hands off a man who is taking advantage of the younger women.”
Edited with Afterlight PhotoOn “Self Care” and “Family Trauma,” Hedonia takes the mic herself, laying it all bare. The lyrics delve into personal wounds, while the music becomes hardcore, characterised by electronic, intense, and aggressive elements. “Free Delivery” skewers fast-consumption culture, using irony to critique our dependence on convenience even when it empties us inside. With these tracks, “Solar Eclipse” shows Marie Ann Hedonia is casting a sharp eye on the world around her.
With “Solar Eclipse,” the Baltimore composer delivers her most ambitious work yet: a fusion of techno, synth-pop, industrial, and ambient that weaves a dark but deeply human narrative. It’s an electronic manifesto, one that reminds us that even within darkness, light can still emerge.
