New music video from Catherine Elms

Catherine Elms is a name that echoes through the dimly lit corridors of alternative music, a voice that slips between the cracks of shadow and light. Hailing from Swansea in South Wales, the self-taught pianist and genre-bending artist draws on baroque pop, heavy rock and gothic drama to forge a world that feels both fiercely personal and theatrically vast.

Her music dares you to feel more, to go deeper and to face whatever you’ve buried. Since her debut in 2022 with the single “Frustrations,” she’s made a habit of peeling back emotional layers with each release. Her first full-length album I Have Seen It, I Do Not Fear It followed later that year, earning critical acclaim for its emotional honesty and ambitious sonic offering.

In 2023, she expanded her collaborative vision with ARCANA, an EP created alongside fellow alternative maverick Mishkin Fitzgerald. After a brief but noticeable pause, she returned earlier this year with the single “Medusa,” ushering in a new chapter in her musical story. Now, she’s turning up the voltage with her latest release, the brand new single titled “Brutal Heart.”

Laying down a blistering confessional outing bathed in thunderous drums and soaring vocals, the track is as much catharsis as it is composition. The track explores the kind of desire that undoes you; the ache for something that might consume you whole. Cut with jagged guitars and cinematic scope, the song pulses with danger and yearning, capturing the surreal context of wanting what you know could wreck you. It’s a love song that’s been dragged through the fire and emerged all the more honest for it.

Commenting on the single, she shares, “This song is about the painful realisation that our heart’s desires can be both beautiful and destructive. It’s a reflection on making peace with those contradictions and the mistakes they lead to, embracing them as part of who we are.”

Brought in by the moody plucks of acoustic guitar, Catherine’s expressive voice glides in to an intimate scene that explodes into a raucous alternative rock sound with the crash of drums and charge of fuzzy guitars capped by her impassioned vocal performance. With dark melodic flickers and the steady patter of drums, the track delivers a rousing rock rollercoaster that’s enthralling, catchy and meaningful all at once.

Paired with the single is a music video which features Catherine performing the song as horror style scenes play out to offer a riveting cinematic experience that perfectly matches the music. It’s a spectacular new release from an artist who continues to go from strength to strength on her exciting musical adventure and we can’t wait to see what she’s got in store next.

Listen to Brutal Heart below

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