Waiting
LUKA
There is something hauntingly hypnotic about Leeds based singer/songwriter LUKA. While on the surface her songs drift into your ears in the form of dreamy folk-pop, each one carries an eerily dark undercurrent. With her latest release ‘Waiting’ LUKA once again exposes her ability to explore both the light and dark angles of a persons emotional state. Dealing with the theme of unrequited love, ‘Waiting’ is the perfect match of theme and composition and will leave you pondering its true intentions long after the final notes fade out…
As stated above the song starts out in a gentle way, its sound lapping against your ears and enveloping you in a seemingly warm but bitter sweet atmosphere. It immediately opens up on its theme as LUKAs purposeful delivery of the first few lines kick in. “…I’ve been waiting, every day, for you to come back….” A simple choice of words that paint a picture of a broken heart holding out hope that their love will return. The song then continues in this vein over the next few bars but then, as the song switches gears into its hook, a shadow seems to fall over the image painted by the previous lyrics.
Just before the two lines that, for me changed my perception of the song, a guitar strums an almost discord sound that given the proceeding lines could almost be seen as a crack in the sweet part of ‘bitter sweet’. “….if I wait long enough, you might come to your senses….” These two lines, even when put into the context of a lie told to ease the pain seem to open up a new angle on the song and that maybe the narrator in this instance may be lying to themselves a little too much.
Musically at this point LUKA uses harmonies to create an etherial melody that is underpinned by a wavy and fuzzy synth sound, again might be reading too much into it, but it all gives up a splinter in reality vibe. Contrasting this sound is the continuation of the straight guitar chords that almost feel like two different realities are competing to be realised. Add to this the next two lines “….I’ve been watching, from a distance….” and it slowly exposes the overlap between unrequited love and straightforward obsession.
Overall LUKA proves once again her talent for writing songs and her mastery of her own sound and style. To be able to completely up end the feel of a song without resorting to in your face transitions or obvious tone changes highlights her ability to manipulate her own music with the subtlety of a fine artist. By the end of the song you’ll begin to question where the line between obsession and love truly lies.
Listen to Waiting
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