Brooklyn-based artist Isabella Komodromos has released her debut EP, Crossing Countries Drenched in Blood, under her solo project, Bella Litsa. The album includes "The Waiting Song," a beautiful track that showcases the Berklee alum's singer-songwriter prowess.
The tune opens with a solemn bass line, which Litsa sings over, not long before it swells into a powerful, moody ballad, complete with strings and harmony. Litsa says her style while leaning more alternative, was influenced by her classical training growing up.
"When I was a child, I started with classical piano and studying Debussy, Rachmaninoff," she tells me. "I always sang, but I was bad at it. So I started voice lessons in middle school. And eventually, I thought, 'Oh, I can be a musician because I love this.' And I think a lot of my classical training translates into my music because it's very Baroque."
Litsa originally wrote "The Waiting Song" as a poem but ultimately transformed it into a track after receiving positive feedback in a songwriting class at Berklee. Her close friends, musicians Ryan Saavedra and True Swayne, had similar reactions when they first heard it and collaborated with her on the EP.
"True always said, 'Bella, you have to write a string part for this,' so that's why I wrote the string trio," she says. "I couldn't have done it without them."
As for the song's meaning, Litsa notes it ebbs and flows. "I don't think there's necessarily one meaning, though I can tell you that I definitely wrote it out of a depressive episode," she says. "Sometimes, I'll attach myself to some stanzas more than others, and they'll just resonate with me throughout my life in different ways."
Litsa says she finds enormous support within the community of other artists and musicians in the Berklee and the Boston music scene. It's one of the reasons she decided to release the EP this year. "It's been easy to make music with others this whole time for me," she says, recognizing that's not the case for most musicians right now. "I'm very grateful for that."
Litsa plans to tour—with a full band—as soon as she can, post-pandemic, and says that Boston is on her list of places to visit. Until then, you can listen to "The Waiting Song" below, and the rest of Crossing Countries Drenched in Blood is available on Spotify.
