Zell Row reflects on Hurricane Maria and its impact on Puerto Rico with the Us Now EP

Zell Row, the project of Philly darkwave artist Amanda Martinez, is back with a new EP, Us Now. Out now via Bandcamp, the EP was produced by Trey Fyre of Philly band Korine. Martinez released her last EP as Zell Row, Siren Songs, in 2018.

Us Now‘s five deep and echoing tracks are inspired by Hurricane Maria and the songwriters’s reaction to the depth of the loss the people of Puerto Rico experienced. Martinez reaches out to her homeland through song, singing first in Spanish and then English. “We are ash, we are soil / Of tongue, of one, of blood we are loyal,” Martinez sings over a haunting electronic beat.

“‘Prelude’ and ‘Us Now’ specifically are my cries to those lost in the devastation in Puerto Rico,” Martinez shares in an email. “Us Now was a way to grieve for my island and to remind myself, and others, to rebuild.”

Zell Row’s video for “Us Now” was shot in Puerto Rico over the course of a year, illuminating its fields of sunflowers and crashing waves; testaments to the island’s enduring strength. Watch the video and stream the EP below.