The indomitable Sevdaliza is back with another fiery release, ‘Mad Woman’. Eerie, ritualistic, gong-like sounds call to the listener across a howling tundra of imposing minimalism, just before Sevdaliza’s breathy voice delivers bold lines like “the heart is sick, she’s a maverick, and a mad, mad woman.” Originally composed for short film The Formula, directed by Emmanuel Adjei, the Iranian-Dutch artist delivers ‘Mad Woman’ in full, with its own formulaic arrangement of stark beats and strange melodies. In ways, we could argue this track is the modern iteration of trip-hop or indeed a new direction for the done-to-death school of electronic R&B, but ‘Mad Woman’ seems to venture even further out of these expanded genre lines. It’s confessional poetry that anchors Sevdaliza’s electronic constructs, producing original soundscapes that very often we can’t describe, but merely soak in. - HT