As we head into a new decade, Ampersand music writer Haley Bosselman zeroes in on pop music’s rising artists.
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Arielle Sitrick, known as R E L, calls her music evocapop. The self-created genre alludes to songs that are evocative. You would expect powerfully emotional music with a pop undercurrent. However, Sitrick’s music is really for the tender souls looking to mellow and ride out their feelings.
The aptly named “Plateau” is R E L’s most streamed song from her 2015 self-titled EP. You hear a type of synth pop-malleable to her sound. The chorus repeats “time slipping away” over and over again, as if on a plateau, but one littered with colorful specifics about flickering candles and a small Parisian shop.
Her latest release is the first single in her “Evocapop” album series. “Placebo,” leading the way for “Evocapop Side B,” leans into her heart as a singer-songwriter. The beat is soft, sounding almost stripped compared to the often delicately wonked tracks of “Side A.” The chorus prods like gentle earworm: “Maybe you’re a placebo wearing a tuxedo. You keep it real though.”
Our meeting at a University Park café is basically a detour on her way from her boyfriend’s house in Venice to her home in the Fairfax District. About a week after our interview, she will travel to Amsterdam, where her mom grew up. Living in Los Angeles, Sitrick does not have to be confined to routine.
For now, she reflects on a recent music video shoot. Like her music video for “Side A” highlight “Nanagrams,” Sitrick dances in it.
“There’s no dance without music and no music without dance,” she says.
Dance was part of Sitrick’s life growing up. It now seeps into her music; it’s something she can feel. The pervasiveness of movement into Sitrick’s music communicates the depth to her art for wholesome storytelling.
The series is a journey toward self love. Sitrick developed anorexia at age seven, which she addresses in the “Nanagrams” music video. In the video, a woman in a blunt purple wig pushes Sitrick to fit into a corset, making it tighter and tighter until she can’t breathe by the end. Through moments of dance, she captures body struggles with body expression.
“[Side A is] a reflection of myself waking up to the way I was hurting myself,” she says. “I hope that you listen to it and find some truth in it for yourself.”
Sitrick is not of the overwhelming pop star breed. She speaks so only I can hear. Her hair hangs in a long ponytail and her bright blue cheetah-print top is masked by a black leather jacket. It’s really through music Sitrick is the most loud.
A Chicago native, Sitrick has called Los Angeles home for 10 years. She’s a graduate of the University of Southern California, but was not in the music program. Sitrick majored in narrative studies and minored in songwriting.
“I went to college wanting to make my own major,” she says. “It brings a lot to my art to have that storytelling foundation.”
Despite not knowing her sound, she booked her first show the first month of her freshman year at the Whisky a Go Go. She wasn’t exactly prepared, but made this self-imposed deadline as to not let music fall by the wayside. Since then, Sitrick has defined her artistry and played across club venues in Los Angeles, from Hollywood to Echo Park. Sitrick reflects on her college days when she would play house parties.
“Playing to a room of drunk college students is always pretty fun,” she says. “They’re very responsive and they really dig it.”
R E L’s music doesn’t exactly match the party playlist you’d expect to throb out of a frat house speaker. Still, it’s easy to imagine Sitrick repurposing the energy of drunken 20-somethings into musical camaraderie.
At Popshop West, a Neon Gold Records event for new music, the shows are fun too because of all the teens, who actually come to enjoy the music, Sitrick explains. However, she’ll often look into a crowd that’s mostly standing still.
“The L.A. crowd for music is very different than the parties, she says. “I think it’s because we’re in L.A. and there’s so much industry… that the fun of it is taken out a little bit.”
Sitrick used to want to sign with a major label. She went back-and-forth with one, which she will not name, but eventually saw how it could limit her creative control.
“They didn’t feel right,” she says. “I think I just didn’t want some guys in suits telling me who I was.”
During her freshman year of college, Sitrick couldn’t ever imagine anyone singing along to her songs. She eventually realized music is a form of vital self-expression.
“A few years ago, it hit me… I love writing songs. I love singing. I love performing,” she says. “The exciting part is going to be how it transforms. I have no idea what’s gonna happen.”
R E L can next be found at the Bar Lubitsch. She’ll perform on March 7.
You can follow R E L here on Instagram.