McKenzie Ellis tears romanticised ideas of death to pieces on vulnerable yet brilliant third album, Kissing Death.
'How do you live when you don’t wanna die anymore?'
This brutal question is so crucial to Mothica’s third album that she sings it twice within its first three songs. It’s a question rarely asked out loud, but the Oklahoma artist’s willingness to ponder it and make herself vulnerable in the process is one thing that makes this album so important. Countless others from our realm have sought catharsis by writing about their mental health, but McKenzie Ellis has gone one step further, taking the ways we romanticise death and depression and throwing them into the fire.
Thematically, she has lofty ambitions, but they’re matched by a quietly assured knack for alt.pop songwriting that instantly grabs you by the scruff. While 2022’s Nocturnal was shiny yet a little too scattered, Kissing Death is much more cohesive and cuts far deeper. Intro track The Void is so immersive it feels like falling into a shimmering vortex that leads to Mothica’s murky world, where her best songs to date await. There’s the smouldering drama of Curiosity Killed The Moth, the downtrodden rock of Red and the scintillating electro-pop of Afterlife, but while they’re united by a dark energy, they go beyond cliché to tell captivating but deeply real tales.
The boldest move here is The Reaper, which has all the hallmarks of a frothy, summery pop song with an almost satirical twist. McKenzie might cast death as a love interest, but he’s hardly a dream – 'I don’t care if he thinks my life is expendable / At least it’s reliable' – cleverly bending a toxic trope out of shape. Equally compelling, but for very different reasons, is Doomed, a heart-stopping ballad so unflinching in the origin story of McKenzie’s depression and trauma – 'Wednesday I had church, I prayed I’d make a friend / If I knew what he’d do I’d have never gone in.'
Easily her strongest body of work, Kissing Death never yells its importance out loud, but its distinctiveness and authenticity (and hooks)is still incredibly significant, perhaps to the point where it’s time to wonder why she’s not bigger than she is. It’s time for the world to know Mothica’s name.
Verdict: 4/5
For fans of: PVRIS, Poppy, Cassyette
Kissing Death is released on August 23 via Heavy Heart/Rise
