Photo: Nikki van de Poel

la loye accepts a difficult truth in the enchanting “i only hear you in my song”

Dutch songwriter la loye emerged to us in December when she released the glowing “i’m still asleep”, which left us wanting to hear more from the young musician. She delivers today with a new single called “i only hear you in my song”, which finds her confronting an unavoidable truth. She explains:

“When writing the song I was in the midst of falling out of love. One day I just woke up and realised I didn’t miss the person I thought I was supposed to miss most, and I didn’t feel all that bad about it. I was walking on thin ice for a long time trying to avoid a confrontation, which I knew could only end in us parting ways. So the song isn’t necessarily a break-up song, but is far more descriptive of the ominous period before the big blow-out.”

With a gentle acoustic melody at its core, la loye makes us feel like we are traipsing quietly through her awakening mind with her on “i only hear you in my song”. In real time, we seem to hear her gradually coming to the realisation that the feelings for her partner aren’t as strong as they ought to be; an unsettling sensation that descends with equal parts relief and dread – “it’s creeping up my back,” she sings. This time la loye opts not to utilise the grand instrumentation we’ve heard from her before, instead just adding some echoing atmospherics, which gives “i only hear you in my song” a very poignant and honest air and allows more space for her gentle but beautiful voice, which transmits her complex feelings with captivating clarity.

Listen to “i only hear you in my song” or on your preferred streaming platform.

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