‘Half the Way’ is the debut single from Sweden’s Erik Sköld, and it’s such a raw and visceral listen that you can’t help be swept up in the unfiltered feeling of this track. In keeping with the themes of many of the tracks we’ve covered lately, ‘Half the Way’ confronts our polarised and pressurised society. As such, Sköld presents us with this truly experimental soundscapes that’s packed with surprising twists and turns to reflect the unpredictable nature of life.
The track opens with a warm atmosphere of plucked acoustic guitar, paced bass note and some bubbling production effects; this sets the scene for Sköld‘s emotive vocal work. What begins with a bruised baritone singing “it begins slow…”, soon enough evolves into frustrated voice breaks and a gritty alt-rock tone. This is where we first realised that the placid introduction of the track is about to shatter, our assumptions along with it.
After around a minute and a half of the off-kilter, rock-tinged verse in which the artist allows those intense emotions to fly free, the track takes a step back. In this minimalistic moment, we hear some discordant piano keys, some eerie electronica and Sköld‘s meandering, half-spoken thoughts. He brings in the central concept of this song here too, “meet me half the way halfway”, which the artist will shed some light on in the quote below.
“Half the Way is a song that came to be through frustration, eventual surrender and a hope born through it. It is melancholic in an accepting but hopeful sense. There’s something of a breakdown in meaning going on and dialogue between opposing viewpoints has all but seized. While events unfold in the world at the stage of social media, I feel this inkling of everything just being a symptom of something untangible moving under the surface. Something that is hard to pin down in words, but even harder to talk about due to todays polarized climate. In that the notion of “meet me half the way halfway” was born in me, not in order to proclaim some fact or narrative, nor to promote any particular point of view. I just want to try and meet the listener there. And I hope that comes through as you listen to the song.”
During the final third of ‘Half the Way’, a haunting kind of peace takes over with Sköld‘s floating falsetto, a singular bass note, and percussive clacks echoing from a distance. This is bound to leave the listener in a strange meditative state without a resolution in sight and wondering where we can go from here. We suppose that’s what life does to us all. As a result, we’re thoroughly impressed with Erik Sköld‘s ability to convey abstract concepts in such a dynamic, original and instinctual way.
You can also listen to ‘Half The Way’ in our Outsiders Club playlist.
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