Illuminati Hotties - NICKEL ON THE FOUNTAIN FLOOR EP
- Samuel Stevens
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Sarah Tudzin, the GRAMMY-winning producer and creative spark behind illuminati hotties, has always existed on the fringes of indie rock's most daring territory—crafting music that is at once witty, chaotic, heartfelt, and boundlessly imaginative. On her newest EP, NICKEL ON THE FOUNTAIN FLOOR, out May 30, 2025, via Hopeless Records, Tudzin doubles down on her sonic fearlessness, offering five tracks that further cement her place as one of alternative music’s most inventive voices.
Opening with the cosmic and kaleidoscopic “777,” co-produced with Jay Som’s Melina Duterte, Tudzin introduces the EP with a sprawling, multi-dimensional track that feels both immediate and transcendent. This is Tudzin at her most poetic and experimental. The song is as much a meditation on love and existence as it is a crunchy indie rock banger. “777 is catharsis, romantic gestures, shouting your love into the void,” Tudzin explains—and you feel all of that, as jangly guitar textures swirl around her playful vocals and dynamic production. It’s “crying on a well-tuned bicycle at midnight” music, and few can make that kind of sentiment feel real quite like Tudzin.
From there, NICKEL goes full throttle with “Wreck My Life,” featuring Stefan Babcock of Canadian punk rock band PUP. Originally a castoff from Tudzin’s 2024 full-length POWER, this track resurrects itself as a feral, shout-along anthem for anyone who’s ever seen the red flags and still hit the gas. The song crashes and claws with PUP’s signature scuzz-punk energy, but Tudzin’s lyrical nuance—equal parts sass and sincerity—makes it feel deeply personal. It’s cathartic and catchy as hell, the kind of track that makes you want to scream in your car with the windows down.
"Bright Sun" shifts gears into introspective warmth, a radiant piece of sun-drenched indie pop with a bittersweet core. Over fuzzy guitar lines and airy percussion, Tudzin captures that fleeting feeling of clarity in the chaos of life. It’s bright without being naïve, hopeful without ignoring the shadows—a balancing act she’s always excelled at. There’s something cinematic here, too, like a montage of memories flickering just out of reach.
The emotional centrepiece of the EP, “Hollow,” is a raw, slow-burning track that echoes with quiet devastation. Tudzin allows space to bleed through the production—echoes linger, breaths are held, and the silences feel as important as the lyrics themselves. Her voice, vulnerable and unguarded, delivers gut-punch lines about self-worth, longing, and the exhaustion of trying to hold everything together. It’s a ballad of emotional erosion—achingly beautiful and devastatingly human.
Closing track “Skateboard Tattoo” feels like a perfectly chaotic bow on the project. It’s a playful, punchy, and oddly poignant exploration of fleeting youth, impulse decisions, and identity. There’s humour (as always), but also nostalgia and earnest reflection woven into the fuzzy riffs and gang vocals. It encapsulates the spirit of the EP: personal yet universal, grounded yet otherworldly.
With NICKEL ON THE FOUNTAIN FLOOR, illuminati hotties once again sidestep expectations, delivering a project that’s as emotionally rich as it is sonically diverse. From genre-defying experiments to gut-level vulnerability, Tudzin proves, yet again, that no one is doing indie rock quite like her. These songs might not have found a home on POWER, but together, they form a constellation of their own—glittering, strange, and utterly unforgettable.