Image by Alice Chérie Hansson (@alicecherie).
London-based songwriter and composer Maddie Ashman released her second EP Her Side back in February, and has since showed no signs of stopping. Shortly after, she officially released her single 'dark' on Spotify - something that couldn't have come sooner for me, having spent the past year streaming it on Bandcamp.
Now, Maddie has just released new single 'Amber' - a song she had already been teasing for a while on TikTok. She revisits the hocket form used on 'bonfire', from her 2025 EP otherworld. The technique dates back to medieval compositions, whereby a melody is split between two parts; the notes in one part coincide with the rests in others, resulting in what sounds like a conversation between her vocals and guitar.
Maddie again worked with Jessa Brown, whose hauntingly mesmerising poetry formed the narrative of otherworld. Departing from the wooded worlds, she instead employs menacing lyrics with what sounds like an underlying infatuation: "cover me in butter / I want to get to know her [...] she catches my eye / I'm caramelised."
Instead, it turns out that the lyrics are directed towards an idealised version of the self. She sings: "I don't want amber // only want it faster", in which amber symbolises a period of stasis or slow transition. The song is defined by frustration, tension, and this feeling of literally chasing another version of yourself. This is beautifully reflected in the music, with its frenetic drums and irregular time signature creating a stunted quality.
Maddie herself says,
Indeed, the guitar has a verbosity characteristic of her compositions - it becomes so much more than an instrument simply complimenting the vocals.
The single is accompanied by a music video, a deeply creative project directed Clemente Löhr. Throughout, we see Maddie in pursuit of a woman who turns out to be herself; it culminates in a face-off between the two with the original Maddie taking the place of the pursued, ultimately cementing this cycle of becoming and ongoing re-invention.
Released alongside a slightly older single 'I hate goodbyes', the new track hints at a wider project and leaves fans wondering what Maddie will do next.
