Burlington, Vermont indie outfit Clever Girls shared their new single “Stonewall” on Wednesday. The track is the third and final single ahead of their album Constellations, out March 26 via Egghunt Records.
“Stonewall” is dripping with emotion, with a lone guitar opening the track along with singer Diane Jean’s raw vocals. Much of what we’ve seen so far from Constellations relates to a coming-of-age assertion of identity, as Jean wrote it shortly after coming out as queer and nonbinary. “Stonewall” finds them exploring their identity in terms of their past relationships.
Jean elaborated on their inspiration, and offered insight on the recording process behind “Stonewall” in a statement:
I wrote “Stonewall” about the distribution of emotional labor in relationships and what is often asked of us AFAB (assigned female at birth) individuals based on our perceived gender identities. I believe that a lot of my shortcomings within the context of interpersonal relationships were as a result of emotional over exertion, and I really wanted to capture that feeling on this one. You might notice that the vocals on this song sound defeated or exhausted. To accomplish that, we recorded the main vocal in one take, as a first utterance (I woke up after a near all-nighter at the Studio, and without speaking a word, I recorded it directly from my sleeping bag … literally). Stonewall is really my own anthem of rebellion—against my own perfectionism and against the constant inner monologue that tells me to adapt to others’ needs and expectations.
Listen to “Stonewall” below. You can preorder Constellations here.
