I’m going to resist every urge I have to make a pun, so let’s just say Von Bieker’s new track “Haunted” is…captivating. The Canadian singer-songwriter takes a simple, sing-song melody and layers it with enough folk elements to make the song feel as if you heard it somewhere before — you’re just not sure where. And maybe that’s okay. The narrator isn’t quite sure where he is, either, giving the listener the same sense of gentle disorientation as our guide. Even so, the song will break your heart a little bit.
In Von Bieker’s soundscape, the earnest retro charm of a bowtie meets the world-worn grit of rock and roll. Retro guitar twang channels resonant writing through a voice often pushed until it cracks into free-fall falsetto.
Based in Edmonton, Alberta, Von Bieker draws on influences ranging from Canada’s Bahamas, Bruce Cockburn and Leonard Cohen to Glen Hansard, Hiss Golden Messenger, Sufjan Stevens and Radiohead.
“Haunted is a song about missed opportunities,” he writes. “While the beat drives consistently forward, the lyrics look backward with regret at a love that could have been. An ambient sound bed plays in reverse throughout the song, doubling down on the weight of the past. The story starts with a glance that demands action (“if I knew your name I’d probably forget every other word”) but leads nowhere.” This new release transforms Von Bieker’s earlier upbeat 2016 version into three minutes of longing that fit right into his upcoming album Long For This World (out June 25).
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