Kerli Enchants With ‘Feral Hearts,’ the Magical Lead Single From Her First Independent Record: Listen

Woodland creatures, nymphs and faeries alike, gather 'round, for the day has finally come: New Kerli has arrived.

If you'll recall, the Estonian Queen of Pop picked up and left L.A. last year to move to the woods in her homeland of Estonia and make music in solace, forging a partnership with PledgeMusic to produce an entirely crowd-funded record for her loyal followers — better known as the Moon Children.

“I don’t just go into the forest for a photo shoot; I actually live here, and I make music here. Studying magic and shamanism of my ancestors is as important to me these days as making art," Kerli says.

And "Feral Hearts," which will be released this Friday (February 19), is the first piece of this independent venture.

From Kerli herself:

After spending half of my life living and creating in different parts of the planet, I have found a deep appreciation and a way back to my ancient Estonian roots. The art you're about to experience was made during a year in which I soaked in this magical land's inspiration by practicing an extremely simple lifestyle by myself in a little forest temple, having not much else with me than my music making tools. I am humbled to share the first piece with the world as these are some of the most honest sounds and visuals I've ever created. It is my hope that they bring as much joy to the listener as they have to me while birthing them into reality.

The track has all the ethereal makings of Kerli's persona: Dreamy strings, soaring electronica, twinkling bells, otherworldly layers of vocals. The track dramatically sways along an electronic undercurrent, as the singer leads the way ("whole world trying to blind the way home / but we've got shelter deep inside") in an passionate burst of earthy empowerment.

"Feral hearts / In the night / Loving like we've been kept captive," she triumphantly cries out.

As the backstory for the song implies, there's a pure and spiritual element deep in the production's DNA. Here's hoping the rest of the record is just as enchanting.

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