After her band Strip Darling went on a self-prescribed hiatus roughly two years after their debut LP, singer Jacque Ryal was inspired to write a plethora of pop songs at her home base, The Music Building, the historic rehearsal studio where Madonna got her start.
"It was time to stop, break musical habits, redefine what I want," she said in a statement. "It is time to reinvent, dance, wear pink lipstick and use hairspray again."
Out of this desire, Ryal was born -- her eponymous story of self-discovery and finding one's own rhythm.
"City Lives," Ryal's first single, premiering exclusively here at Music Times, is a notable departure from the moody Strip Darling and instead inspires comparisons to LCD Soundsytem, Blondie, and The Pretenders.
"City Lives is a song about discovering and defining identity, specifically that of an artist," she told Music Times. "The chorus showed up while I was walking the streets of NYC in December in a moment of reflection on the many lives I have been while developing as an artist."
Ryal will release her debut album this fall with producer Aaron Nevezie of The Bunker Studio in Brooklyn.
Check out "City Lives" below, and let us know what you think in the comments section!
