Hamartia is the fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine. A narrative tool often determining a characters arc (or fate) underpinning many of our favorite stories in film, literature, and music. Meredith Johnston, the singer-songwriterproducer 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 her fatal flaw, selfhatred, 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, NNAMD). Together, the pair crafted an album that draws liberally from its 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 Humans 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, Im riding shotgun with my shit attitude). Hamartia is a perfect pop soundtrack for our current moment because its irresistible hooks and quotable lyrics are the opposite of empty escapismtheyre an invitation to acknowledge your own struggles and flaws. To get in touch with your hamartia.

Recommended if you like: Imogen Heap, Sylvan Esso, Madonna, Portishead, Frou Frou, Sophie, Postal Service, Sheryl Crow