“merry-go-round” is the fantastic debut single from Obedeia, the musical project of Welsh songwriter Hannah Smithies. Co-produced by Joseph Ray, the cello-friendly alt-pop track is part of the concept album Exquisite Angst, releasing throughout the year across 11 tracks. Merging chamber elements with electronic textures, the song builds from a delicate piano waltz into a sweeping choral realization, confronting themes of complicity, fate, and cyclical decay.
Expanding gorgeously from waltzing piano dreaminess into stirring cello-laden grandiosity and twinkling keys, “merry-go-round” progresses with emotively compelling ferocity. Initial rainy-day piano tones complement an escapism-touched lyrical daydreaming. “He said I’d be queen of the known universe,” the vocals let out. “Our children would reign and the earth wouldn’t burn.” A tumult-filled world, driven by corruption, scorches in comparison to the serenity of known loves and moral compasses at the helm, instead, and the lyricism seems to address that with heart-tugging immersion.
The gradual cello-forward elements bolster a “my purpose, my destiny” vocal introspection, sending chills as glistening keys add seamlessly to the fervent strings. “The wind blows,” spine-tingling vocal layers follow, its refrain resonating into a satisfying finale that reprises the initial subduedness of the piano-led introduction. “I cannot get off the merry-go-round,” ghostly vocals conclude the track, which induces replays with its emotionally sincere, melodic production.
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This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
