We’re once again drawn to Brooklyn artist Sara Kendall, whose beautifully haunting dark-pop music has given us real food for thought surrounding issues of victimization, fear and uncertainty for vulnerable individuals, especially women. Her new single ‘Comply’ signifies a gear switch, however. As Kendall states: “In Comply, I wanted similar concepts to be portrayed with confidence and empowerment. It’s standing up for myself instead of wallowing on past events where I have felt wronged or damaged from.” The themes are still the same as those that inspired her previous releases, such as ‘You Don’t Own It’, ‘See Through’ and ‘Happily’, although ‘Comply’ portrays the power of perspective. As Kendall has come to realise through her music “Resentment and liberation from it can coincide and exist together in unison.” The video co-directed by the artist and Samantha Granados exudes literary influence, such Charles Dickens’ much recreated character Miss Havisham or the other-worldliness of Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Both literary ventures centralise women who are at the mercy of their time, with marriage, society and expectation as destructive forces in their life, and therefore they chose to escape into timeless fantasy. They, like Sara Kendall, refused to comply. - Hannah Thacker