Listen: Cousin Marnie – “Cain”

Londoner Cousin Marnie first caught our eye at the back end of summer 2013 with her debut EP, Is Sleeping; a four-tracker of classic folk/country ditties, razed and reborn as towering, gothy-as-hell electro-pop ballads. Now Julie Ann Hartigan is back on the scene this week – but with one eye on the past again – and the Old Testament-referencing “Cain” in tow.

Continuing her blooming partnership with Everything Everything and Bat For Lashes producer David Kosten, Marnie starts off by balancing her translucent coo on a knife-edge instrumental of prickly pianos and white noise atmospherics, before cutting loose on a chorus simply brimming with juddering beats and warped bass baps. It’s electro-pop, but polished to an obsidian sheen, and hooky in biblical proportions; “Cain” marks Marnie out as a hitmaker with rare crossover potential, and bags of irresistibly weird quirks.

“Cain” is due for release in April via independent label, Tiny Consumer and a remix by Brighton duo IYES will follow. Marnie headlines The Sebright Arms, London on 10 March.