Hamartia Vinyl

Hamartia is the fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine. A narrative tool often determining a character's arc (or fate) underpinning many of our favorite stories in film, literature, and music.

Meredith Johnston, the singer-songwriter-producer at the heart of indie project Warm Human, borrowed the term for the title of her latest LP, and her first for Sooper Records. Hamartia finds Johnston probing the depths of own fatal flaw, self hatred, without skimping on the catchy hooks and bracingly frank lyricism.

"This whole album is pop music for deranged people" she says. Johnston wrote and produced the album with Chicago composer and producer Conor Mackey (Lynyn, Monobody, NNAMDÏ). Together, the pair crafted an album that draws liberally from it's diverse influences, incorporating down-tempo electronics, drum n' bass, indie rock, synth pop, and elegant, unstructured soundscapes.

Hamartia finds humanity in electronic music, with warm synths, guitars, and shape-shifting vocal stacks frequently creating a one-woman choir. Hamartia is buoyed by the best music of Warm Human's career, from the probing "Father Father" to the insightful "My Moods!!" and the musical dish session "Love 2 Hate."

Inspired by Portishead, Sheryl Crow, Frou Frou and others, the LP can be both wryly funny and incisive in the span of a single couplet ("I asked for space and you gave me the moon," she sings on "My Moods!!" adding, "I'm riding shotgun with my shit attitude"). Hamartia is a perfect pop soundtrack for our current moment because it's irresistible hooks and quotable lyrics are the opposite of empty escapism-they're an invitation to acknowledge your own struggles and flaws. To get in touch with your hamartia.