If you managed to get through the entire COVID-19 pandemic without losing your job, consider yourself lucky. According to a study done by Pew Research, 25% of US adults reported that they, or someone in their household, was laid off or lost their job due to the coronavirus pandemic. 18-to 29-year-olds and lower-income adults are among the most likely to report this. What are the side effects of this job loss besides a tank in the economy? More young people are moving in with their parents and/or leaving major US cities for smaller, more affordable locations.
In short, many of us have felt lost and directionless over the past eighteen months, struggling to not only to survive in these once-in-a-lifetime circumstances, forced back into places of our past that are intentionally left there, but to find meaning in them. Ottawa-based musician fanclubwallet (Real name Hannah Judge) knows this feeling all too well, and singing “I went to bed and didn’t get out for ten months” isn’t a play on words or an exaggeration. After Judge released her single “Car Crash in G Major” during the fall of 2020, she suffered a Crohn’s disease flare up, leading to a stint in the hospital and leaving her bedridden in her childhood home for ten months. While most of us struggle to apply for jobs on LinkedIn or find the motivation to get out of bed, Judge took the opportunity to work on her debut EP, Hurt is Boring.
Hurt is Boring, out today, arrives after a handful of singles released by fanclubwallet. Judge initially gained the confidence to release her original music after a cover of “This Must Be The Place” by the Talking Heads received positive acclaim. After super agent Tom Windish heard her music, he was so impressed by Judge that he got in contact with her and asked to manage her career moving forward. This ultimately helped fanclubwallet’s music reach more people, landing her singles on major Spotify playlists like New Music Friday and Lorem. Hurt is Boring’s infectious bedroom pop was created in between hospital visits with Judge and her best friend-turned-producer Michael Watson. “It’s about taking the good with the bad,” Judge says in a press release, “You can’t really appreciate one without the other.”
fanclubwallet’s sound, inherently “DIY” in its creation, is a more refined take on the basics of bedroom bop, more ’80s and more structured. Judge is right at home with artists like Clairo, girlhouse (who we love!) and a similar edge of Snail Mail.
The five track EP, features gems like the lead single, “Car Crash in G Major,” which explores a relationship towards its demise, coming to terms with its end without finding the strength to end it when it should be over. “C’Mon Be Cool,” released earlier this year, describes what it’s like to realize you’ve unintentionally outgrown the people you love most, and “Hurt Is Boring,” the titular track, closes out the album, a song that arguably encapsulates the album in its entirety: “Hurt is boring, but so is happiness. And I think that I like one more than the other.”
Hurt Is Boring is out now – stream it on your preferred platform here.
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