April 11th saw the release of Danish indie-folk artist Hills and Trees’ (Martin Fabricius Buchwald) fourth single, ‘The Riverbay’.
It’s all about finding peace in the moment and I’m all for that. Never has the phrase ‘stop the world I want to get off’ resonated as loudly as it does right now.
There is a story behind it. The song’s inspiration came from a personal experience, in which a close friend received a serious and life-changing diagnosis. It made him think back to a canoe trip they went on several years ago, where they were out on the river, alone with nature, and living in the present moment.
He sets the scene serenely and perfectly in the opening bars with synthesiser notes that hang like a river mist, you can easily picture yourself in the setting that forms the image for the song (above), with the exception that if it was me I’d be up that creek without a paddle to use that well worn idiom.
I’m no sailor, sailor!
The notes from his acoustic guitar are crisp and clear; they do tend to get lost against a background of synthesised music, but not here.
When it gets going it does bear a resemblance to Batt/Garfunkel’s ‘Bright Eyes’ and that could be a distraction, especially in the instrumental bridge, which sounds like it is being played on something between a piano and a glockenspiel; a pianospiel perhaps.
But as it turns out, it isn’t a distraction at all. Martin owns the tune as well as the lyrics. Roadkill is quickly forgotten.
Lyrically, there is something I didn’t get at first.
Sandwiched between the early lines
“Let’s go down to the river bay/rent a canoe and just drift away…leave our worries far behind”
and the later ones,
“Let’s go down to the river bay/rent a canoe and just drift away…and this time we’ll stay”
is this:
“Let’s take off and leave this town/drive away before we drown”
I initially read incongruity into those statements; the middle one seeming to suggest that cutting and running might be the best answer, which seemed to go against the ethos of the song.
But I guess what it represents holistically is a realisation that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side; that problems are best worked out in places that are known to you and in which you can more easily find solace.
‘The Riverbay’ is an atmospheric piece for sure and one that invites contemplation. But not at the expense of contentment.
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