Former Chromatics singer Ruth Radelet shared her version of Elliott Smith's "Twilight" for Kill Rock Stars' 30th anniversary earlier this year, and now she's back with her first official solo single, "Crimes." Co written with Poolside's Filip Nikolic, "Crimes" doesn't stray too far from the synthy dreampop she made with Chromatics, but it's lovely nonetheless, and its main lyric -- "Is it easy to start over?" -- may raise a few eyebrows.
"'Crimes' is about the pursuit of success at the expense of one’s integrity, and the exploitation of others in order to get ahead,” says Radelet. “It’s about the price we pay for our choices, and whether or not it’s worth it. The question, ‘Is it easy to start over?’ can be interpreted in two ways - it’s meant to ask how it feels to continually reinvent yourself until you lose sight of who you are. It also asks how hard it would be to walk away from it all.”