Nick Hakim - 'Happen'
Nick Hakim, noted for his distinct psychedelic soul, takes us on an old sail boat down a river of small eddies and lethargic currents, idling on the treacle-like waters, with new song ‘Happen’. The song’s release is coupled by the news of new album ‘Cometa’ out 21st October via ATO Records.
As we slip in and out of a dream state, we hear Hakim’s close breathy vocals telling us about ‘the sweetest angel [falling] into [his] world’. Deep love is the song’s main motif and on this topic, Hakim has mentioned “The key is to find that extremity of love for yourself. It’s about growing into someone you want to be; it’s about finding pure love within yourself when the world around us seems to be crumbling.” This constant pure love is what holds the song grounded, rooted in a rhythmic pulse that binds you to its course while certain instrumental expressions float up to the sky like kites. The album itself ‘cometa’ (spanish translation of ‘kite’) is based around this idea of distance to oneself and how love lets you float out of your own body. This incorporeal theme is a staple of psychedelic music and Hakim’s lo-fi soulful take of this genre is no more apparent than when he sings “Let it happen” in an ethereal mantra, sometimes starting the next iteration before the last was over, adding to this sense of unbounded liminality, bodiless and free.
The music video, directed by Johan Carlsson and shot in Sweden is the perfect accompaniment to the song. The slow motion shot sidles gently along next to the chugging beat of the percussion. The fact we’re on linear moving transport in the video is reflective of the song’s simple progression, steadily beating on. Carlsson has said about the video ‘we see people on a subway, all busy with their different lives, some are in great spirits and some in deep thoughts maybe because of trouble at work or in their personal life. Sometimes when you’re in a public space you’re not interested in your fellow human beings at all and sometimes looking at them is so interesting that you can’t stop’. The song itself is imbued with even more meaning when held next to this notion of ‘sonder’. The fact there is a soundtrack to these character’s lives suggests to us there must be meaning to them, as one of the only other times we experience this is through watching films which are of course curated with their own contextual significance. This symbiotic relationship between the music video and the song is what makes Hakim’s release even more special. I would only add that the lack of people staring into the lurid light of phone screens detracts from the realism of the shot, but who wants realism when there are passengers holding striped snakes!
Words by Daniel Badger
