Stream: Zealyn, ‘Odd Behavior’

Kevin Bronson on May 19th, 2022

0

Since launching her solo project Zealyn in 2016 in the entrails of her experience on “American Idol,” Angie Miller had done the dance familiar to pop songwriters: hopping around engaging in co-writing sessions with other artists and producers, all in search of the secret sauce (or algorithmic voodoo) that makes a hit.

Zealyn’s new single (and first in three years) “Odd Behavior” is not that. An head-bobbing pop song that turns into a rocker a minute and half in thanks to a surf guitar solo, it represents the 28-year-old’s efforts to work with a clean slate.

“‘Odd Behavior,’ simply put, is a song about escapism,” the Massachusetts native says. “It brings the listener through my stream of consciousness over the last 12 months as I struggled with feeling like I was dissociating from music. I was having a difficult time writing songs and was losing patience in writing sessions. For a while there, it felt as if every song had to ‘play by the rules’ and stick to some imaginary formula. I found myself longing for more depth and for songs that weren’t afraid to take risks.

“So I decided to write an EP in my living room, not in a studio, and with only one collaborator [DAvid James Williams], no other opinions. I even stopped listening to music entirely for a few months while writing. I just didn’t want there to be any influence from a current artist as I was making these songs.”

Logan McKenzie (Paramore) contributes the aforementioned solo. David Burris co-produces. Zealyn’s previous two releases came in 2019 with an EP “A Weekend in Maine,” highlighted by the ballad “Faster Now,” and a follow-up single, “So Damn Charming.”

||| Stream: “Odd Behavior”