Left at London narrates a suspenseful thriller on new single “Bloodlust”

Singe-songwriter Left at London steps out of her own perspective to narrate a haunting thriller.

December 15, 2021

Seattle, Washington-based musician and artist Nat Puff a.k.a. Left at London is used to building songs out of her own experiences. Her debut album t.i.a.p.f.y.h documented the tumultuous and uncertain journey of healing from trauma and mental illness. But looking inward can come with its own pressures. To step away for a bit, she crafted her latest single “Bloodlust,” a suspenseful double-murder thriller set over the course of just over three minutes.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Normally I write songs in my perspective,” she tells The FADER, “so writing a story about something that’s never happened to me was a unique and fun songwriting exercise that ended up being so good, I wanted to release it as a standalone single.” It's the same notion that garnered Puff viral fame on the now-defunct Vine and its indirect successor TikTok where she amassed a cult following doing impressions of famous musicians like Mitski, Frank Ocean and Tyler, The Creator. However, where those creations were playful, “Bloodlust” offers sinister new insights into Left at London’s creative vision.

The bouncing production serves as a hefty foundation to set the stage for Puff’s narrative, which starts off relatable and quickly descends into mayhem. Puff shares: “The song follows the narrator at an event where someone they dislike is also attending. So, in a crime of passion, they murder this person because they ‘don’t want nobody else hurting for you, because they adore you’ (take that however you will).”

ADVERTISEMENT

But the chaos doesn’t end there. “Once the murder happens,” Puff adds, “it is revealed that there has been a witness to the murder, an unknown to either of them. The logical conclusion the narrator makes is ‘Well, now I gotta kill THIS motherfucker too’ so they do exactly that, killing the witness and the original target.”

The third verse of “Bloodlust” is written to imply a jump in time, fast forward far past the time frame of the original heinous act just in time to set up a grand finale. “The narrator proclaims ‘I may be a little bit new to this, but I won’t be a bitch about it… So come on in and welcome, it’s your turn to die’ ending the song on a cliffhanger,” Puff adds of the haunted conclusion. “Does our antihero make it out alive? Do they die in a tense standoff with authorities? Either way, in this universe, ‘Bloodlust tastes a little like justice…’”

ADVERTISEMENT

Thumbnail photo by Mariangela Abeo of Faces of Fortitude

Left at London narrates a suspenseful thriller on new single “Bloodlust”