“It’s built into human nature to love without reciprocation – to pour ourselves into deities or people that don’t give us clear answers.” In this thought by Lisa Martin lies a paradox familiar to anyone who has ever got stuck in the limbo of their own feelings. Romantic vulnerability is a dangerous thing, but damn poetic. And when it falls into the hands of an artist who knows how to turn inner turmoil into a song, something magical appears.
With such sincerity Lisa Martin, known under the pseudonym ADERYN, returns – a girl whom the British music press has deservedly dubbed the “queen of Cardiff indie pop”. Her journey began on a sheep farm in the Brecon Beacons, and already at 16 she traded the pastoral for the crash of hi-hats, becoming the drummer of a grunge band. Today, the force of riot grrrl, the nostalgia of 90s teen movies and the gloss of alternative pop converge in her sound – a combination that makes ADERYN one of the notable figures on the British indie scene.
The new single “Please”, released on 17 July, is the third one from her upcoming EP “Hot Pink!” (the release is scheduled for August 2026). It is a song-confession that captures the moment when the metaphorical jump from the cliff has already been made and all that remains is to pray that the very person will manage to catch you. ADERYN approaches romantic uncertainty from the position of an explorer of her own faith. For her, the pain of the absence of a clear answer becomes spiritualised. “Once I started treating religious faith as an allegory for how I felt towards this person, the lyrics poured out”, – she says. In the chorus, she sings: “I will spend my life being devoted to you, even if I have all these questions. There’s insecurity, there’s anger – these are the ingredients of love that swirl in with the good stuff.”
ADERYN herself admitted that she wrote the song in twelve minutes, recording it as a voice note. “Please” begins deceptively restrained: the guitars and vocals build slowly, as if the singer is afraid of revealing the full force of the feeling too early. At the end, an organ recorded by Owain Fleetwood-Jenkins in a chapel in Pembrokeshire comes in. The secular confession at this moment becomes liturgical. ADERYN consciously works with religious imagery, transforming the pain of unrequited love into an act of faith.
Musically, “Please” borrows the intensity of mid-nineties playlists. But there is no trace of nostalgia here: grungy roughness meets the sensitivity of alternative pop. As the artist herself says: “This is my favourite song I’ve recorded. I’m obsessed with the swirling, grungy intensity we created with producer Gethin Pearson (Charli XCX, Orla Gartland)”.
And if faith sometimes requires a blind leap from a cliff, then ADERYN seems ready to jump again and again – as long as there remains at least a faint hope that she will be caught.
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