The Only Thing More Ominous Than Drones Is Morly’s “Drone Poem”

This week in dystopia, Amazon tried to buy the actual sky (or at least some of it) to make room for their new fleet of drone deliveries. In a not-so-distant future, we might be lying on our backs in a field watching drones zip back and forth across the ether; and while I'm not sure that that's exactly what Minnesotan artist Morly is singing about in her new track "Drone Poem," its ominous whir gives me the same creeped-out goosebumps.

A graduate of Ryan Hemsworth's Secret Songs series, Morly is gearing up to release her debut EP, In Defense of my Muse, on Cascine in August. "Drone Poem" is the release's only sung track, and features Morly near-growling I never loved you over a churning engine of voice and synth. "I wrote 'Drone Poem' thinking about Nick Cave’s 1996 letter to MTV, when he declined his nomination for Best Male Artist," Morly told The FADER over email. "I'd felt how easily, if I'm not careful, my relationship with music could be corrupted and I thought his description of the fragility of his muse and the indignity of subjecting her to judgment and competition was so beautiful. I wanted something simple I could sing to make sure my head is always right—so the poem is, really, in defense of my muse."