On her latest single/video, Sonia Serin casts a weather of agony into the present day. Dark, emotive, and utterly gorgeous, it is a song that leaves you feeling richer just for being in its presence
Our relationship with our surroundings has undergone a complete reset over the past year. Forced to collapse our entire world into the four walls of our home, our understanding of space, being, and belonging has emerged deeply nuanced from this time. On her latest single, Sonia Serin navigates just that, but on a much more intimate level.
The Walls is as much an anthem for the times as it is a glistening exercise of catharsis. Through raw lyricism and a shimmering poetry of piano and strings, the Melbourne local spins our now intricate understanding of distance into a complete emotional restoration: exposing our hesitancy towards vulnerability when entering into a new relationship. Compelling, detailed, and utterly poignant, The Walls is a release that you can’t turn away from.
From the moment the track begins, Serin lets us all know that this is a song of disconnect, of opposing forces. Opening with the mournful beauty of a solitary piano line, Serin establishes the tone for the piece; dark, longing, and utterly spellbinding. Strings slowly wash in like tides of melancholy as the artist sings of sheer heartache. From the captivating monochrome imagery to the push and pull of the dancers’ tango, the song is as bittersweet as a melody can possibly be.
At its core, The Walls is a track that tears down the guards we spend so long building for ourselves, ready for us to put up at any moment we feel threatened. It replays the impact our own shields have had on our relationships like a film, dusted through waves of melody and sonic detail. It is a sojourn that softly cascades around the many faults that make us human; anxiety, stubbornness, and caution, all while serving as a compelling reflection of our current day.
With the same sonic sensitivity devoted to all her works, Serin is able to capture an incredibly personal experience without excluding any listener in the process. While The Walls do reflect our unwillingness to be emotionally vulnerable, they are also the physical distance placed between us during lockdown. It is nothing revolutionary to say that these past months have strained relationships and our being even more so, but the artist is able to place this experience into a tapestry of passion that is nothing short of a masterpiece.
“Whilst the world has entered a new era collectively astonished and upstaged by the current global crisis, we learn to adapt to the strange new norms of ‘social and physical distancing’,” the artist’s bio reads. “Serin’s evocative video delivers a timely and tender discernment on humans common trait of ‘emotional distancing’. The track comes at a moment where space and distance from loved ones are on all our minds; as we are currently curtailed under restrictions to remain within our external ‘walls’ this song explores our ‘walls’ within.”
Empathy and compassion aren’t just lyrical tools for Serin, they define her entire creative output. In a state currently structured on disconnect, the song/video is a stirring reminder of compassion, the necessity for emotional intimacy, and of The Walls that we need to keep breaking down.
Check out the video below:
