SONG PICK: Sugarplum Fairies - Heart Hell 2021 ft. Sid Simons (Video)

Silvia Ryder, who makes music under the moniker Sugarplum Fairies, gears up to release Altar Songs 1998-2021. As the title suggests, the album serves as a snapshot of Ryder’s career in music, which started in 1998 as a California-based husband and wife duo. After a personal and creative breakup in 2013, vocalist/songwriter Silvia Ryder continued as Sugarplum Fairies, evolving the project to a rotating artistic collective.

The first single plucked from the album is the magnificent “Heart Hell 2021” ft. Sid Simons (Girl Skin.) While the track is at its core a break-up song, the 2021 version puts an additional spin on it, with more than 18 months into the pandemic. Many of us have been through a ‘heart hell’ one way or another, and the more we crave the melancholic beauty of a tranquil and utterly gorgeous song like “Heart Hell.” Ryder’s and Simons’ vocals complement each other perfectly, and it’ll be exciting to hear how “Sandy Says 2021” will sound like; another track from the upcoming album featuring the Girl Skin frontman. When asked about “Heart Hell 2021,” Ryder says:

“Heart Hell 2021” is a re-imagined, re-recorded version of a song that was released in 2011 when Sugarplum Fairies was still a duo. Sid and I “met” via Instagram; I am a big fan of his band Girl Skin and vice versa. Due to the pandemic we ended up recording our vocal parts separately in our respective home studios in Los Angeles and Brooklyn. This arrangement was also the template for the video – the video was shot in Los Angeles and NYC on different VCR cameras and filmed off projections on a farm in Virginia by director Lael Neale.

Listen to “Heart Hell 2021,” our Song Pick of the Day, and get lost in the mesmerizing beauty of the accompanying video:

Connect with Sugarplum Fairies on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and add “Hert Hell 2021” ft. Sid Simons to your playlist as we are adding it to our glamglarepick playlist on Spotify:

Photo credit: Lael Neale