MUMBAI: Today, acclaimed singer-songwriter mxmtoon announces her third studio album, ‘liminal space,’ which will be released worldwide via AWAL on November 1st. The album sees mxmtoon further embracing her signature confessional songwriting that has earned her millions of listeners and devoted fans across the globe. Exploring themes like the uncertainty of growing up through a carefully crafted indie-pop lens, ‘liminal space’ is primed to be mxmtoon’s most introspective project thus far.
mxmtoon shares. “In the turmoil of the last two years since my second record, I’ve felt suspended in a transitory landscape that often at times felt endless. It’s easy to feel trapped in something you barely understand, and life has thrown an onslaught of questions towards me that I can only respond with, ‘I have no idea how to answer this.’ So, suspended in the unknown I wrote these songs. I tried to unravel how I’ve chosen to fulfill the roles I’ve been given in my own life, and at times how I’ve failed to keep up with them.”
‘liminal space’ was also a chance for mxmtoon to work exclusively with an all-female team of producers, writers, engineers, and even in the wider creative visual process working with female photographers and designers including visual artist KangHee Kim For mxmtoon, having an all-female creative team made the process of reckoning with these decisions much more impactful. “‘liminal space’ is an album for people struggling to understand agency, who bathe in the bittersweet and lose themselves wandering in their own endless hallway with no ending.”
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mxmtoon is also gifting fans with another new song “the situation” which features vocals from Sarah Bonito of the critically acclaimed and beloved UK electro-indie-pop Kero Kero Bonito and cryalot. A reflective, existential track masqueraded as an upbeat pop anthem, the song is a clever commentary on feeling like you’re past your prime. Using tongue-in-cheek lyrics mixed with bouncy beats and acoustic strumming, “the situation” showcases mxmtoon’s innate ability to craft a pop-driven earworm, regardless of subject matter.
“What is there to say… we get older, then we die, and there’s nothing you can do about it! A lot of the songs on this record deal directly with the concept of girlhood and the cycle of life. I was twenty-three when I wrote “the situation” and I feel like I grew up with this idea that my early twenties were gonna be the time of my life where I’m the hottest and most fun I’ll ever be,” reveals mxmtoon. “Society as a whole really pushes the narrative that women reach a peak and then slide down for the rest of their lives… and that’s just stupid. I always love to use some sarcasm in the mix when I’m writing songs that tend to be pretty emotionally raw though, and ‘the situation’ was the perfect opportunity to make fun of how dumb that is. Getting to work with Kero Kero Bonito on this song in particular was such a dream come true too. I’ve been listening to KKB since 2013, and Sarah’s vocals have been stuck in my head since Intro Bonito. Her contribution to the song was so perfect and fun, it really glosses up the song to be externally peppy when the whole thing is about dying! She’s amazing.”
Her first single from the forthcoming album “i hate texas” came out last month—a fiddle-laced track co-written with underscores—she shares a post-breakup escape fantasy whose lyrics slip from sweetly poetic (“I haven’t left my apartment in a real long time/ I’m making friends with the stars at night”) to unapologetically blunt (“i hate texas/ But the exits have more room to run away from you”).
Since she was 17-years-old, mxmtoon has made exquisitely catchy pop songs that capture the kind of complex and tender feelings we often keep hidden from the world. Over the years, the Oakland native and now Nashville-based artist’s unguarded self-expression has earned her a devoted global following, with top 20 streaming countries including the Philippines (#4), Indonesia (#8), India (#12) and Malaysia (#17). Her success has also led to collaborations with the likes of Carly Rae Jepsen and Noah Kahan, and propelled her through an expansive career that’s also included hosting a podcast and authoring a graphic novel.
