Everything is built by standing on the shoulders of giants, to some degree. And if “Dagger in the Sun” at times echoes with the late-night sounds of Johnny Dynamite or the quiet angst of Briston Maroney, C S Hellmann would be the first to admit that this is no coincidence. But the art of working with your influences and inspirations is to merely tip your creative hat to them while moving those sounds forward. And that is exactly what we find here.
Hellmann creates a gorgeous soundscape: guitars coil and spiral in the background, seductive sounds swirl around, and a cool dynamic is created by the gentle ebb and flow between crepuscular vibes and more strident sonics. This is a song that begs only to be played in the half light as the world turns.
There is also a brilliant play off between the analogue and digital world, guitars are picked and powered while synth washes drift through every pore, every space, softening the edges and sweetening the deal.
And given that this is a song about emotional honesty and introspection, it sets the perfect tone for such intimate, insular thinking. This sound emplores you to look inwards rather than out, a song with quiet humility of its own, calm and collected, considered.
In that regard, and indeed in many other ways, it is a song that is both timeless and timely. When, after all, have we, as humans, ever needed to turn to quiet reflection more than we do today when dealing with the world around us?
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