The title of indie singer-songwriter Laura Stevensons latest single is the name of a OCD-related mental illness that causes people to repeatedly pick at their own skin. But despite that ominous title, Stevensons latest a jangly pop-rocker that recalls Rabbit Fur Coat-era Jenny Lewis is about persisting through pain. When Stevenson sings, So scar up where it counts/No one can see me now, it sounds less like a confession than a triumph.
On Dermatillomania, the centerpiece of her new albumThe Big Freeze, Stevenson tells much of her story through the songs breezy SoCal riff, which arrives like a declaration right after the songs closest approximation to a chorus: And then I see your face. The song also features some of the sharpest imagery the 34-year-old songwriter has ever written. Describing that same face later on, Stevenson sings, Its features are a skyline of a city I cant place. Its the type of line that could only come from a singer whos suffered through desolation and come out on other side. The song works mostly because Stevenson is careful never to forget her past scars. Its not a sign of hope/Its not a suit of armor, she offers. Only a reminder.