So close you can't breathe with Evelyn Gray.
Evelyn Gray has announced new album I HAVE BEEN FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE and, alongside has released lead single “AIR.” The new record will be released November 1st and, while short, this first track, while short, gives us a glimpse into the world she'll be guiding us through come the fall.
The opening keys of “AIR” are uncomfortable and let you know you, as the listener, will be challenged here. The following anticipation doesn’t give you space to relax, off time keys and percussion generate this feeling of being watched, letting you know something is not right here. It’s an effect which makes this track build over time without necessarily becoming heavier, just changing the atmosphere every second of the way. When the track kicks in, even when you close your eyes and immerse yourself in it, there are whispers in the background, the vocals punch and pierce like they’re being performed right in front of you.
This subject matter and performance on self destruction and having a hand in your own end feel very bleak and are presented as desperately as they feel. Evelyn talks about the end of her own life as if it's a fantasy, she’s gone over it so many times she has it down like it’s an equation. This is also depersonalized as someone else doing it to her while embracing the heaviness of the act. The final vocal section is difficult to get through, not in terms of it being good or bad, but in what’s being said, how it's being said, how methodical it is even to arrive at these points.
I know thirty ways out,
I know how much air,
I know exactly which outfit I would wear.
When I set out to write this piece, I told myself I was not going to do a personal anecdote, but something happened when I was listening to “AIR” for my notes. The first time I paused the track to write something down, it instead started playing again from the beginning. When I pressed play again it would resume, but so would this new one. My computer detected no audio, resetting did make it stop but it would just do it again. When I was finished it stopped trying to do this. “AIR” is an uncomfortable track, it's supposed to make you feel this way because it was written out of a feedback loop of self destruction. This track wouldn’t stop playing for me like the intrusive thought it's written around.
Comments
Post a Comment