Exclusive Track Premiere: ‘Dark of My Evening,’ Belle Mare

Recorded at legendary Electric Lady Studios, Brooklyn-based duo Belle Mare’s untitled debut full-length (due next year) will stand in contrast to Amelia Bushell and Thomas Servidone’s home-recorded EP The Boat of the Fragile Mind. Bushell and Servidone released “Cicada,” the first single from the album, in February this year, with a stunning video directed by documentarian Nicole Mackinlay Hahn to follow. Here are pleased to premiere the album’s second single, “The Dark of My Evening.”

“‘Dark of My Evening’ was inspired by someone I couldn’t let go of for what felt like a long time,” Bushell tells us. “I would be out having fun, but I would eventually start daydreaming about reuniting with this person. There would always be this lingering sense of loss that could turn my mood right around.”

Bushell’s haunting and lofty vocals aptly sing, “When I go out I’m alone … Didn’t ever think I’d go out just to show how / I can never be alone in my bedroom now… You’re the dark of my evening,” over a mellow, dream-pop soundscape. Most often Bushell and Servidone share the songwriting process, typically starting and finishing within the duo’s apartments. “Dark of My Evening,” however, began in the studio. After experimenting at Electric Lady (“From the minute you walk into that place, you feel as though you’ve stepped into a musician’s Disneyland,” Bushell says) with keyboardist Tara Rook, Servidone fleshed out the arrangement and brought it to Bushell, who then wrote the lyrics while the pair sat at her kitchen table. “It came together very naturally,” Servidone explains. “We had a great time, and I think that’s part of the magic of [Electric Lady]—it makes you shed every anxiety you have.”

Since the release of The Boat of the Fragile Mind in 2014, Belle Mare has developed relationships with mentors, constantly learning about the inner functions of the music industry, and the two have also grown more confident in their pursuits. “I’ve become comfortable with releasing songs. When we released the first EP I couldn’t stop crying because I was so embarrassed about exposing my inner struggles,” Bushell admits. “Now I feel confident, because it feels worth it to be publicly vulnerable even if only a handful of people are affected by a song of ours.”

FOR MORE MORE ON BELLE MARE, VISIT THE DUO’S FACEBOOK.