Alexandra Drewchin, better known as Eartheater, is an aptly named, multi-instrumentalist artist whose ground-shattering music has been gracing the globe since 2009. Boasting a solid discography of 6 studio albums, a mixtape, a remix album, and a collaboration, Drewchin is a veteran of the music world, successfully shape-shifting into new alter egos with each release. In 2015, Eartheater began as a butterfly, who rose from the ashes to become a phoenix in 2020. Burned out from taking so much heat, Drewchin has taken a deep dive into the cool waters of minimal production.
Despite her humble upbringing on a horse farm in northeastern Pennsylvania, Drewchin has decided against drawing upon her equine past for her new album, Powders, released on September 20th, 2023, under Chemical X records. Instead of land, Drewchin’s main source of inspiration for this album is the sea, heavily embodying a siren archetype, and rightfully so. Eartheater possesses an impressive 3-octave vocal range and employs it regularly throughout this album. Her striking voice lures unsuspecting ears to their peril and pleasure. It hypnotizes listeners and drowns them into a soundscape like no other. Unlike Azealia Banks’s siren alter ego, modeled after Goddess Yemoja, Eartheater takes after Rousalka, a siren best known amongst Slavic cultures. Rousalka’s story is tragic, melodramatic, and graceful. In Powders, Drewchin embodies her interpretation of Rousalka’s story adequately. Songs whose subject matter include longing for a lover, finding solace in the water, and being an otherworldly creature drawn to the moon are just a few of the many literal depictions of Eartheater likening herself to a sensual, supernatural creature for this album.
Literary interpretations aside, the musical aspect of Powders is nothing short of impressive. Drewchin collaborated with a renowned group of producers and artists for this body of work, which include experimental powerhouses Yves Rothman (who largely helped produce Yves Tumor’s most recent works,) and Sega Bodega. However, despite erring on the side of experimental music, at its core, Powders garners influence from two additional contrasting genres: 90s alternative and 00s Europop. “Sugarcane Switch,” the first track on this album, is reminiscent of Homogenic-era Björk, from the use of hypnotic orchestral loops peppered with highly accented percussion, to the incorporation of Drewchin’s dynamic, wailing vocals.
The same 90s influence is seen in the following track, titled “Crushing.” “Crushing” is an angsty ballad that focuses on Eartheater’s lustful desire for someone, which, merely by its description, sounds akin to a song off Fiona Apple’s highly praised debut album, Tidal. Sonically, Apple’s influence on Eartheater’s “Crushing” is also palpable. Despite the similarities, however, it is imperative to note that Drewchin does not ever create a glaring copy of any body of work she might pay homage to. Indeed, a seasoned listener may pick up on the Portishead-style drum pattern in “Face in the Moon,” or the 00s Soviet pop, Валерия-style production in “Mona Lisa Moan,” but they also will acknowledge that Eartheater reinvents any sound into her unique style perfectly. This is exactly how one should approach incorporating influences in a project without making a formulaic, algorithmically driven carbon-copy of them.
Upon my first listen of Eartheater’s cover of Chop Suey, what struck me the most were her overwhelmingly graceful, nearly operatic vocals and delicately layered acoustic guitars. The fact that Drewchin decided to present her rendition of the System of a Down fan-favorite was an afterthought. Oftentimes, especially in today’s musical climate, the two thought processes are switched: Listeners are drawn to new artists solely because of their desire to hear a cover of a popular song (the Marias covering Britney Spears’s “…. Baby One More Time” was a catalyst to their road to worldwide recognition) and not because they solely enjoy artists who continually push the sonic envelope. Regardless of the general public’s listening habits, Eartheater’s Powders is an album that is further proof of Drewchin’s utter genius throughout all aspects of her artistry. Eartheater, like the sea she calls home in Powders, is a force not to be reckoned with.