On "Claw," Mothé sheds his introspective pop past and plunges straight into the neon-drenched chaos of the club scene. This is a burning, full-throttle transformation. Gone are the neat hooks and cautiously confined emotions of previous releases. "Claw" is rude, disorderly, and gloriously alive. Founded on a spine of pugnacious bass and divine vocals, Mothé seizes you by the collar and hurls you into a sweaty, late-night world where inhibitions are depressingly low, and the stakes seem thrillingly high. This is dance floor storytelling, gritty, intimate, flesh and blood.
There's an intoxicating tension that tightens into the track. Mothé conjures up a smoky, lust-drenched scene of locking eyes across the room, syncing bodies to the beat and public intimacy that's as dangerous as it is thrilling. It's a daring narrative move that works precisely because it's raw and human. The clear, springy vocals stumble and stretch as though affected by gravity, and the song feels lived-in, like the night that haunts your shoulders and the inside of your skull.
A DJ moonlighting between live band tours, Mothé is riffing on more than just inspiration here. "Claw" is a creation of late nights, loud rooms, and communal exuberance that occurs only after 2 a.m. The result is a record of that mix of chaos and control, just enough pop consciousness to render it addictive but enough grime to also render it real. This is the first pulse of Mothé's forthcoming album "Total Popstar," a title that, after hearing the music, seems like a reclamation of identity rather than a genre. If "Claw" is anything to go by, Mothé is pursuing the truth no matter how sweaty, loud, or messy it gets.
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