Chosen by Monk
My latest selection is something ever so slightly left-of-centre as it could be seen as more of an electro-pop offering than a rock tune, but it pushes the sort of experimental boundaries that I have grown to explore more and more in recent times. It comes from Faroese singer.composer/songwriter Eivør, who combines her background in traditional Nordic folk, jazz and prog rock with her new found passion for dark gothic-infused electronica with this, the latest single to be extracted from her forthcoming new album.
Despite its complex layers, which build atmospherics and conjoin multiple musical themes to superb effect, ‘Hugsi Bert Um Teg’ – or ‘Still Just You’ in English – is a simple, highly evocative love song, delivered from the heart with the spontaneity of the writing process which spawned it, as Eivør explained:
I usually spend A LOT of time writing my songs. Months, sometimes even years. But [this] is one of those songs that just came rushing out, as if it had been locked away somewhere inside, just waiting for the right key.
Her new Prophet-5 synthesizer had hardly made it out of the box before she hammered out the songs lighter-than-air melody, which dances like the colours of the milky way.
When it finally arrived, I unwrapped it with all the restraint of a child at Christmas, she says of her new studio toy.
‘Hugsi…’ is the poppiest and most upbeat track on the aforementioned ‘ENN’. The gated drum loops and thumping four-on-the-floor beat would get the blood pumping inside any sweaty club basement. But even the pillowy synths can’t hide that underneath its sweet and simple melody, lies an undeniable tension. After all, it is a love song. When Eivør reaches into a trembling lower register, you can feel her yearning. Her passion lights up the video like a thousand suns, soaring above the clouds on the wings of her piercing falsetto.
Regardless of what else is happening around you, even if the world is ending, a love song, dreaming of what once was and remembering love, this is the only thing on your mind.
- ‘ENN‘ will be released on 14 June via Season Of Mist.