Maxine Macaulay is a Wellington-based artist, and vocalist/brains behind Goodnight My Darling. This new single, The Empress, is her first release since her eponymously-titled debut 2022 album, and is dark, compelling and ever so slightly scary. Wonderful!

If someone wanted to put Portishead, Bjork, Kate Bush, Julia Deans and Everything But The Girl together to see what would come out, this is it. A slow, guitar-based number that was recorded and mixed by Toby Lloyd at the celebrated Tiny Triumph Studios, the files were then mastered in Berlin, the spiritual home of the avant-garde, at 24-96 Mastering, by Robin Schmidt.

The subject is the rising spectre of Climate Change. The Empress Card in Maxine‘s tarot deck which represents the loving, caring mother, inspired the title. It’s an introspective look at what is here, what is coming, and how we are going to have to deal with it within ourselves. Very relevant, and very poignant.

We have a video that captures the stark melancholy, twisting the knife of dashed promise, by setting itself in the USA, that home of what could have been. That place that was the land of the free and the home of the dreamer. Without going into CGI or any other effects Will Hadwen, Tyler Burke and Goodnight My Darling have summed up our dystopic 2023 in subtle visuals, setting a panoramic backdrop for the song. Perfectly weighted in timing, shot depth and variety. A very on point video.

The vocal is well delivered, the melody is mesmerising and bewitching, not sweet but not bitter. You want to listen to what she’s telling you, and you find yourself lost in the ruminations she’s sharing. This is one for the late night, sitting up with your head against the wall, sleep evading you. The lights outside shine a brazen message of a civilization blindly bulldozing its own path to doomsday. It’s raining.

Goodnight My Darling has a lot more to tell us. Follow her, and keep watching your carbon footprint. This is good music.