Indie Artist Amanda Sum Questions History On New Single “Mary Shelley”

Vancouver indie singer-songwriter Amanda Sum made her debut a few weeks back with the art-folk-rock tune “Groupthink”. The young multi-disciplinary artist has shared another fantastic new single, this time in the form of a piano ballad titled “Mary Shelley”, named after the famed ‘Frankenstein’ author.

About the song, Sum shares the interesting source of inspiration, “The song is inspired by my research on Mary Shelley during a university course, and being intrigued by the alleged grotesquely beautiful fact that Mary Shelley lost her virginity on top of her mother’s grave. The track is my attempt to look at history, and question what is passed down, and what is forgotten”.

Amanda Sum (Photo by Colin Williscroft, costumed by Opera Mariposa)

Following suit with her previous single “Groupthink”, Amanda worked with an all-female ensemble to write and record “Mary Shelley”, including an all-Asian band, Jamie Lee (drums), Shin-Jung Nam (cello) and Cindy Kao (violin).

Accentuated by dampened piano chords and a backing string arrangement, the new single has a vibrant richness to it, as Sum’s crisp vocals sing about the peculiar inspiration, making for an equally haunting performance as she sings, “making young love in the graveyard instead”.

Listen to “Mary Shelley” below, and read our interview with Amanda about her single “Groupthink” here.

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