Neo-soul music makers, the female-led powerhouse Menajerie, continue on their journey of creating an intoxicating, groovy aural atmosphere with new single ‘First Sunday’.
It hasn’t been quiet for the neo-soul sirens – following their debut album ‘Selective Deafness’ in 2023, Menajerie have garnered praise for their ethereal sound and even landed themselves a nomination in the Soul/Funk/R&B category at the 2024 Queensland Music Awards.
Their next heart-fluttering number is ‘First Sunday’.
Kicking off with a raw, crisp vocal asking “why do you always disappoint? Why can’t you ever bring me joy?”, ‘First Sunday’ is instantly honest and emotional. Soon enough, the percussion and guitar join the conversation – creating a pensive, cathartic listening experience with swirling, full instrumentation and layered harmonies.
Listeners are transported to another dimension when the bridge hits too – the world of ‘First Sunday’ opens up even more as the tempo shifts and lyrics become more inwardly reflective.
Ahead of the song's release tomorrow (2 August), scenestr is thrilled to be able to share the track a day early. Enjoy.
Just last month, Menajerie followed up their debut 'Selective Deafness' with the fiery single 'Melt'. . . And they're already backing it up with this tantalising new track.
As for the subject matter of the 'First Sunday' in its entirety, the track is about moving through grief, and mourning the loss of family.
“’First Sunday’ was written in two halves,” Menajerie’s Gracie Mack says. “The first part has tense, pensive verses and lush, emotive choruses with interplay between the guitar, Rhodes piano and vocals. It then crescendos to a big release at the end of the rising, cosmic bridge.”
“But once we got to that point, it didn't quite feel finished. The song had more to say. So we added the introspective, bass-driven outro that brings the energy back down and inward. We considered releasing the two halves separately, but ultimately felt the story was served best having them together.”
Menajerie recorded the track at home. This familiar territory meant the group were able to workshop and jam out ideas – and Gracie says this essentially made the track what it is today.
“We had a lot of fun recording this song at home. It gave us freedom to play and try out different textures before landing on the finished product together,” she says. “We're super lucky that our drummer Beau is skilled enough as a recording engineer to piece all our mad ideas together.”
Menajerie launch 'First Sunday' at It's Still A Secret (Brisbane) on 2 August.
