My friend and I were listening to this track by London-based newcomer Josef Salvat, and the first thing both of us thought was, “Oh, this is an instant favorite.” Then, I imagine my friend did what I did, which was lie back involuntarily in post-orgasmic bliss. This track hits me in ways that the human touch could only hope to.
Regular readers of my posts have probably guessed that I give voice to and explore my darkness through music. I’ve always found so much life in melancholia, and Salvat’s song is a perfect encapsulation of that.
If you brave life as an “optimist against the most dangerous skies,” this track is a familiar feeling: like wrapping one’s arms around yourself and throwing your mind, your life, and your goals into the deep end (and who knows (or cares, for that matter) if you can swim). Salvat’s surfs the “shadows of success” in his dreams, and he’ll tell his story to any traveler he meets on that lonely road of defiance.
Salvat’s voice growls with an authenticity that can only be earned, never simulated in a studio. So, if you are up for an absolutely breathtaking unearthing of the dark side of the Ego’s ambition, do yourself a favor (and quiet down your neurotic Id) by letting a fellow dark traveler assure you that wholeheartedly giving into yourself is the only way ‘”to believe that there is more than pain.”