With atmospheric production and words that cut deep, rising artist, cehryl, blends extremes to paint a cinematic escape. Her song “Dead Knot” employs this polarity with lyrics framing her emotions and production she developed during her studies at Berklee College of Music. After graduating, cehryl’s time in Los Angeles was musically prolific, as well as the most cohesive in terms of artistic style. “Dead Knot” resulted as a precursor to a collection of songs written during that year, released in June as her debut album Slow Motion.
cehryl’s performance in “Dead Knot” is vulnerable as much as it is catchy. Juxtaposing, upbeat indie-pop production with lyrics describing herself as a ‘robot’ inhibiting her emotions: "I’m a robot, waiting till your love rots, to choke it with a dead knot / You’ll never know how I feel (if I feel)." In the midst of emotional tumult, cehryl gives conflicting moods suggesting, "I don’t feel hate / For you and all your bullets,’ ‘But I’d never mean to shoot / If it didn’t kill."
This is a familiar theme in her music: using metaphors to elevate the emotional nature of her writing alongsidemusic videos edited and directed by her.
Now living back home in Hong Kong, cehryl’s working on new music and performing around the neon bustle with influences from directors like Wim Wenders and Wong Kar-Wai, and musicians like Avril Lavigne, Bon Iver, and Frank Ocean. cehryl’s style has definitely evolved since her college days, but it’s clear her sound has found a place that borders the line between film and literature.
To hear more of cehryl, check out her debut album Slow Motion, entirely written, produced, and performed by her.
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