Pops Magellan Closes EastWest Trilogy, Beaming Down Alien Funk in “Drive Complaining”

Pops Magellan has wrapped up her Live at EastWest Studios video series with a performance that feels like it came from another planet. “Drive Complaining” features Robert “Sput” Searight on drums and Artur Menezes on guitar, and it might be the grittiest of the three.

The track is all heat and tension. Distorted synths. Thick, moody textures. Pops’s bass voice driving the whole thing like a low-orbit spacecraft losing its temper. She says it’s about “letting emotion spill in everyday moments, like driving,” and the lines themselves sound like someone muttering complaints into the void.

This is the third and final release in the EastWest series, following “Misunderstood” and “Deep Thoughts.” Each video builds on the last, and “Drive Complaining” closes the set like a flare. It’s part of her debut solo EP, DAMAGE, which she’s been celebrating with shows in LA and Brazil.