Art School Girlfriend has released “Doing Laps,” the third preview of her upcoming album Lean In, due March 11 via Fiction Records. The London-based, Wrexham-raised artist and producer, born Polly Mackey, uses the track to confront a familiar modern exhaustion: the strange burnout that comes from making art inside an always-on digital economy.
“Doing Laps” circles its themes both lyrically and sonically. Over a steady, treadmill-like rhythm, Mackey reflects on creative repetition and the quiet disillusionment that creeps in when fantasy turns flat. Her vocal delivery is calm but edged with frustration, sounding less defeated than clear-eyed. There’s resolve here, the sense of someone who has questioned the system, recognized its limits, and chosen to keep moving anyway.
The production mirrors that tension. Bursts of radio static, sourced from a 1970s transistor radio, drift in and out, while ticking hi-hats and a restrained electronic pulse keep the song in motion. Soft synths bloom briefly, offering moments of relief before the track tightens again. It’s meditative without being passive, music that acknowledges confinement while carving out its own pocket of calm.
Lean In was self-produced in Mackey’s East London studio, and it’s shaping up to be her most cohesive statement yet. Building on the shoegaze-inflected techno of “L.Y.A.T.T.” and the expansive melancholy of “The Peaks,” the album threads together alternative rock, electronic pop, and ambient experimentation. Rather than smoothing out contradictions, Mackey leans into them, letting grief, joy, anxiety, and hope coexist.
That approach reflects her wider presence in the UK music ecosystem, from collaborations with Daniel Avery and Ghostpoet to DJ sets for Bonobo’s Outliers series and her long-running Foundation FM show. With Lean In, Art School Girlfriend sounds less concerned with chasing momentum than with protecting something more fragile: the pleasure of making music on her own terms.
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