Lyris Faron, formerly the frontperson of the riot grrrl/new wave outfit T-Rextasy, started dreaming up her solo project while driving cross-country after a tour.

Under the name Talulah Paisley, Faron channels a more expansive, off-kilter version of herself—one shaped by years of playing music with friends as a teen in NYC, graduating college, and navigating the murky waters of early adulthood on her own.

Her upcoming debut ‘Fool’ (out June 11 via the People’s Coalition of Tandy) sounds like a scrapbook of those coming-of-age moments: tender, chaotic, and occasionally surreal. There’s a clear throughline from the girl-group drama of the Ronettes to the dreamy haze of the Velvets and the warm psychedelia of Roy Ayers, all filtered through Faron’s sharp, offbeat lens.

Following the album’s first single ‘What’s It Like?,’ today brings ‘Slink,’ a woozy, heartfelt meditation on the confusion of desire and identity. Frankie Cosmos’ Greta and Alex, along with Katie Von Schleicher, lend their voices to the song’s bittersweet harmonies. Faron sings in a haunted, looping cry: “Why don’t you know what you want?” and “Why don’t you know who you want?” It lands somewhere between a lullaby and a confrontation.

The video for ‘Slink,’ co-directed by Faron and Savannah Magruder, is just as disarming. Faron, dressed in a white jumpsuit and clown makeup with balloons tethered to her limbs—a nod to a Bettie Page pin-up—wanders into a run-in with a group of greasers. It plays like a surreal short film, somewhere between camp and heartbreak.

About the track, Faron says: “Slink is about this period where I felt disconnected from my desires. I was looking for that part of myself again, and felt ashamed and lonely in not finding it. Sometimes it feels like the whole world is in on this secret but you. I feel like in mainstream media intimacy is often represented so narrowly and it frustrates me so much. It shows the same acts, the same feelings and the same identities over and over again. It’s always hot, it always works and everyone always wants it. No one is ever tired or in pain and it’s never awkward or even funny. In this song, I wanted to talk about an in-between space with intimacy.”

Headline photo: Kiukl Adelbai

Talulah Paisley Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp / YouTube
The People’s Coalition of Tandy Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp