Track By Track: Rebecca Reinhard - 'Whale EP'
Swedish dream-pop artist Rebecka Reinhard has just released her new EP ‘Whale’ - which is filled the bright colorful sounds she stunned us with on previous singles while also diving into new territory with more subtle minimal vibes. She took a moment to talk to us about the release - track by track.
Whale
‘Whale’ sounds happy but is quite sad and cynical and has a deep, hidden melancholy, a bit like old soul songs like ‘Tracks of My Tears.
No Release
This song is where all the parts of me that are ever tired, hurt, worn out and fed up get to have their say. Tell their ugly version of the story. But it’s not a wallowing in self-pity. It’s a slow, rumbling war cry. An anthem being pushed relentlessly towards the edge of the cliff and finally hurled into the void.
A Pick
So I found this pick. A guitar pick. It was lying on the ground, face down and I obviously went to pick it up and when I flipped it over it had my ex’s name on it, in big black letters, just staring at me like a bad joke. I was still kind of in the process of getting over this person but instead of throwing the pick away I pocketed it and went home and wrote a song about it. Being a true Pisces, shredding the pick until it was all worn down and the name had started fading, I felt like that was the most vengeance I would get. And I felt pretty ok with that. A Pick encapsulates that feeling I often get of not getting things done the right way or being able to make sense of an overwhelming reality but faking it the best I can, hoping no one will notice.
Quit Your Day Job
You get to see a lot of things when working in a cafe. It almost becomes like its own mini-universe. You have secret nicknames for all the regulars and you see them every day but you usually only know the tiniest fraction about their lives so you start making up stories about them and what they do. And soon enough you realise that it works both ways. They all have nicknames for you too and an entirely distorted idea of who you are and what your life looks like. This song is a tiny collection of observations from that strange little cosmos.
Stamford Hill
Have you ever felt like everything you touch will turn to dust? Like you’re contaminated with some vicious virus that will attack anyone who comes too close to you? That’s what heartbreak feels like to me. When I wrote this song, I had been heartbroken for a looong time and I tried to distract myself by dating other people but it only made me feel worse because it just reminded me even more of the person I was so desperately trying to forget.
Poison
When a relationship that you thought was going to last forever suddenly ends, you grieve. And a big chunk of that grieving is for the future that will never be; all the things that you plan both explicitly and subconsciously when you’re in love with someone and share a life together. Poison is not subtle in its message, it’s pretty melodramatic and in your face, but with an undertone of acceptance to this new cynical outlook on life. Like I’m just gonna keep going, and that uncontrollable monster that is grief will be following me around for as long as it takes so there’s no point trying to shake it off.