Ester Skála (Faroe Islands) – Become (single)
I had to include, during this Day of a Million Releases (it seems like that,) this song from the Faroe Islands simply on the basis that I’ve never heard a happy, bibbity bobbity synth pop song (she calls it ‘pinkpop’) from those wild islands before, being used to more serious, philosophical works, steeped in folklore.
(Apart from Joe and the Shitboys of course, but that’s another matter).
Believe it or not ’Become’ is a song about heartbreak and making bad choices in love, and a contrast to Ester Skála’s last single, ‘Mellow Cat’, which was described as “a candy floss –coloured trip.”
It’s a fantasy tale of a Prince and a Princess who thought they were an item but then he abruptly dumped her for another princess, thereby revealing that his commitment was suspect but she hadn’t been able to wipe the scales from eyes and see through him for what he really was.
It’s a brutal opening couple of lines:
“I was only guessing/of what might be going on
when out of nowhere/you told me we were done now”
Belatedly she realises “what we’ve become” but it’s too late to save the day.
It’s a little more sophisticated than it appears on the surface and might even harbour a hidden meaning or two.
And that’s the only thing that might prevent it being considered for the next Disney/Pixar blockbuster. It would suit ‘Frozen Out’ very well!
Musicians:
Ester Skála (author, composer, vocals)
Kristoffer Mørkøre (instruments, producing, mixing, mastering)
Find her on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100069938941053
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/esterskala/
He is tall. (Denmark) – I miss you and America (single) + video
We are on the second chapter of a novel here; one that I sense could turn out to be a lengthy read. But more ‘love and peace’ than War & Peace.
Our subject says on his social sites that he once had an American friend that drove him around the country. Seems they formed something beyond a friendship but then they grew apart. That prompted him to “do some silly and stupid things” and the upshot is that they don’t talk anymore, which was “so funny” to Cliff Richard but not to our man.
So this new single is addressed to ‘Mr American Pie’, to whom he has already said bye bye, with a message to the listener to tell him he is sorry, if they ever bump into him on a lonely road.
Actually we already know the story, or at least part of it, as he is tall. (Troels Thorkild Sørensen) – who is about average height I understand – featured in these pages back in September 2022 with the song New York’, which told the story of his road trip, which began in that once great but now blighted city.
So he was paying homage to that road trip and we noted that he was an innate storyteller that possessed the ability to drag you into the story as if you had been a participant, traipsing across the good ‘ol US of A in a pastiche of Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road.’
Now over two years later he pays regretful homage to his travelling companion as much as to the country in ‘I miss you and America’.
Last time out, in ‘New York’, I sensed a likeness to Terry Jacks’ ‘Seasons in the Sun’ but don’t expect a big tune in this one; in fact there isn’t much of a melody at all, just a lot of strumming.
What there is, is a good old story, of “campsites in suburban Los Angeles” (tourist ones? – I assume he means those of the immigrants and the displaced, under every freeway flyover and the length of Venice Beach); he wanted to “stay as my life at home was a mess.”
There’s an immensely prescient line, unless the song has been written very recently – “Discussed politics, in the land of Lincoln/is that the reason why we don’t talk much anymore”. Not only does it predict Trump’s efforts to prise Greenland from Denmark’s grasp, the Lincoln Project is a left-leaning club of ex-Republican politicians with a hatred of Trump.
Lord knows where that discussion went.
It is only in the chorus where a discernible melody is heard and it is indeed (deliberately I assume) similar to Don McLean’s classic and cute with it: “Bye bye Mr American Pie, thinking of you on the fourth of July”.
There are a few lines that will pass you by, such as an early one seemingly promoting a bar in Augusta, Montana, but all in all it is a clever song that hints again of his potential.
In the meantime we await Chapter 3 of this never ending, Mills & Boon style romantic story.
He is tall. is playing some dates in Switzerland and Germany in late June/early July. See his Facebook page for details.
Find him on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heistall
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heistall1/
