Experimental musician and producer Katie Gately returns with a third track from her forthcoming album, Fawn / Brute, which is set for March 31 release on Houndstooth.

Following the album’s title tracks, ‘Fawn’ and ‘Brute’, this second track drop sees Gately turn her textured collages of captured sounds into one of her most direct pop tracks to date. ‘Cleave’ is an icy, hook-laden ode to a complex territory oft overlooked in the art world: friendship.

“‘Cleave’ is about getting a whiff of someone else’s Scahdenfreude and recognizing the only place to run is far, far away” she comments. “I wrote it as I was mustering up the courage to extricate myself from a friendship that was becoming increasingly and perplexingly hostile.

“While I’ve always loved big, brash heartbroken pop songs, I’ve often wished more of them would probe the murky landscape of platonic fractures. I decided to use my own friendship-heartbreak as an offering into this slippery realm.

“My hope is the song might nudge the listener to stick up for themselves when someone else is hoping they will stay small. Even though this choice can be terribly impractical and lonely, it’s often one of great relief.”