Taynee Lord is diverting down a darker road for her latest single. Country turns to Blues on ‘Heavy Air’: electric guitars creeping over her like shadows; haunted by the harmonies in the chorus. It perfectly resembles the situation in which she finds herself: trapped by a gaslit narrative that has moulded her into an anxious self. It means that despite her pre-chorus insistence that “this time I won’t let them get in my way / I won’t let them feel like I don’t have a say”, her chest tightens, her breath shortens, and she is suffocated out of telling her truth. The shift in emotion, between expectation and reality, is palpable. And what is so moving about this song is the lack of positive resolution. The low vocals remind me of Rosey Cale on ‘Mary Jane’, but whereas the person escapes their situation there, in ‘Heavy Air’, it remains the same at its end. And though that might seem unsatisfactory, ironically it speaks of a truth that is a reality for some. In doing so, Taynee Lord has hit on something important with this song. And in allowing herself to move across the genre spectrum, she has also let the music do the talking.
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Featured Image (C) Taynee Lord
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