Cover of the album “Chambre noire”. (Courtesy of Sadie Campbell)
Singer-songwriter Sadie Campbell released her EP “Darkroom” on August 27th. The project sees Campbell moving away from country-rock and entering a new club-defying space. The EP is a raw analysis of Campbell’s own mental health issues during the 2020 lockdown period. The EP has three tracks – “Fade”, “Aftermath” and “Euphoria” – each being equally explosive, powerful, moving, and unfailingly honest as Campbell fully embraces his darker and deeper side.
Dark room
Before the release of “Darkroom” Campbell told me about his creative process and his hopes for the project in an interview.
Listening to the EP, I had the feeling of a progression, of a journey. The beginning of the title song, “Fade”, is heavy, imposing and dark. This heaviness is contrasted by the lighter and more airy final track “Euphoria”. When asked if the EP was created to be experienced in a certain order, Campbell replied, “Yeah, I really wanted ‘Darkroom’ to be a complete sequence. When I imagined him and how it would turn out, I wanted him to have some elevation. Like when you’re in dark spaces in your life, I wanted you to feel like there was a light at the end of the tunnel – that was the point of “Euphoria”.
The EP being a departure from anything Campbell has ever released, she spoke about the album’s darker inspiration. “I was in such a low place in my life that the music, not that the other songs I released didn’t come from an honest place, but it came from somewhere else… If you’ve got a backdoor in your brain, opens that to you and you go in there. It’s “Darkroom” in a way.
Is this EP pop? Are these dark people? “We didn’t really know what genre we were doing. We just use it as an art to express how we felt, ”Campbell said. “There have been times in the past where I used influences as a kind of guideline for what I wanted my music to sound like, and with that, we really didn’t have anything like it. It was just pure expression.
The light at the end of the tunnel
When I asked Campbell what she wanted listeners to take away from this EP, she replied, “Sometimes it is necessary to embrace the dark room, instead of trying to run away from it, to get away from it all. hiding it or pretending it doesn’t happen… so people just know that they aren’t alone and can talk about it. We all have these ups and downs, it’s just being human.
Why is she making music? It’s simple. “It connects us, it can connect a group of strangers. It’s powerful for me. That’s the whole “why” behind it all: we’re all sort of in the same boat. “
Campbell can’t wait to get back on the road as much as we are eager to get back to live music. But until then we will have his powerful creative force in “Darkroom”.
“Darkroom” and previous singles are available on all music streaming platforms.
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