“Lungs,” Stella Donnelly’s first single from her upcoming sophomore album, Flood, is an unexpected combination that somehow works.  The Australian singer-songwriter tackles a difficult subject with the honesty of a child, and the resulting track is an undeniable banger with a powerful emotional core.  As Donnelly’s mischievous vocals fly over crystalline piano and an oozing bassline, the track erupts into an indie-pop dancefloor anthem, swept along in a propulsive, 2-step-adjacent drumbeat conjured up by Methyl Ethel’s Jake Webb.

In the lyrics, Donnelly takes the perspective of a child watching her parents’ eviction: “Long live the asbestos on the rental,” she chirps acidly, “it looks all right to me.” While Donnelly is no stranger to sardonic lyrics (songs like “Old Man” from her last release, Beware of the Dogs, immediately come to mind), her muted instrumentals often clouded her incisive outrage. On “Lungs,” though, deceptively buoyant production adds another layer of irony; bright piano chords oscillate like sirens as she goads the greedy “suits” leeching off her family’s suffering. The vivacity of “Lungs” reflects Donnelly’s justified anger: “Big man, proud with your new stripe,” she jeers over a cherubic piano refrain. “I’ll be a child, rest of my life.”