Happy Women’s Month everyone on the Left Bank. This month I’m going to try in earnest to feature/profile self-identifying women who are making waves in their artistic spaces (film, fine art, music, writing, etc). To kick off this 30-day project, we are starting with Tummyache, the indie rock project created by songwriter/producer Soren Bryce.
I first saw Soren Bryce live at a going away show in Brooklyn. I was there to cheer on my friends Animal Show and was beyond astounded at the sheer talent that Bryce has. From her stage presence to the strength in her vocals, I could tell that Soren Bryce was one to watch. Within a few days of that show, she moved out of New York City (don’t we all?), chopped off her hair, and I thought that was the last I would be seeing her.
Enter a few months ago when the project Tummyache came across my proverbial desk. Bryce has been creating and releasing music for the past six years under her own name and Tummyache manifested from Bryce’s need to explore a new set of emotions she experienced while living in Brooklyn, New York.
The debut EP HUMPDAY is an honest and aggressive self-dive into a myriad of intra/interpersonal issues; as well as a reflection of the human condition through the lens of absurdism.
“Songs like “machine” and “commonplace” are a cry to understand a life without intrinsic meaning, while “median” and title track “humpday” surrender to the existential anxiety in an attempt to be comforted by self-made hope.”
The debut single “in between” is the introduction I had to this project, and is “a bittersweet outline of Bryce seeking to simply ‘feel better’.”
Featuring a montage of personal footage, “In Between” for me serves as the lifeblood of the project Tummyache, which was named after one of the side effects of severe physical anxiety. Soren Bryce lays everything bare in this new project, and we are better for it. As people, but particularly as women, we are held to a standard of needing to be strong and also vulnerable; real but also happy all the time. Tummyache provides a voice for Soren Bryce but consequently also for fellow women, proving that we are nothing if not dynamic.