Sofie Royer’s new album Harlequin (available September 23 on Stones Throw) showcases the Viennese—and former-Los Angeleno—musician’s passion for her native city’s opera and ballet traditions as well as the baroque lyricism of cabaret, medieval performances and the court jester. Blended with nostalgia for early aughts reality television and American mall punk subculture, Harlequin presents a montage of peculiar characters, vernacular settings and mysterious chronologies that are as theatrical as they are musical.
“Feeling Bad Forsyth Street” shares a glimpse into a brief period in New York City where she was “trapped after trying to pay off a personal debt accrued at the racing track.” Sofie sets the scene: “I’ve lost my appetite I’ve messed up again, messed up big time and I don’t know how I’ve ended up in this state again but all I know is buckle up chin up tough it out because it’s me against me against the rest of the world baby.” The song is also accompanied by a video created by Sofie and cult filmmaker Eugene Kotylarenko (Spree, Wobble Palace), and stars actors Vishvam Velandy and Peter Vack, Curtis and KJ from the Ion Pack, model Dagsen Love and many others.