Princess Demeny - New York Grief

Perhaps the best song i've heard all year and, of course, it's from the late 80s and i'm once again playing catch up. Classic me. As i understand it, New York Grief is a cult obscurity that's been floating around the Internet Seekers for a while, but its wider reach was somewhat hindered by tragedy. Demeny, a Montreal singer/filmmaker/painter++, began making music in 1986 in collaboration with her partner Jean Mineau, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer during the sessions and passed before the songs were past the demo stage, thus hindering their release. New York Grief subsequently appeared on a six song EP with Vini Vidi Vici in 1989 (though seemingly missing all of the other Mineau tracks), but seems to have languished in relative obscurity since. Sterling effort, then, by Seance Centre to usher this back into the light. Post-new wave, crepuscular dreampop/proto-Trip Hop with an anguished edge that, despite its Canadian provenance, couldn't be anymore New York - back of a cab through the city at night desperation kinda style. There's an unusual inflection to Demeny's voice that gives her an alien quality not unlike Bjork, strangely enough, and her emotive delivery has a touch of both Julee Cruise and Mary Margaret O'Hara. Like those singers, she's able to magic something both complex and relatable through her performance, and it's made me desperate to hear more of her work. Those songs that channel some ineffable sadness seem the hardest to shake off. Message to SC to bring more of this back into the world, please.