Alex – How Can You Be Gone? (2022)
Pain and grief are the two emotions most commonly associated with the loss of a loved one, but there is also a sense of disbelief. This is the emotion Alex has picked up on with her single ‘How Can You Be Gone?’. One of the saddest songs she has written and released, it draws on her own experience of losing someone and the overwhelming emotions that follow.
Originally written by Alex and her co-writer Bobby Yaps in 2017, it was only in 2021 that they were able to face recording it. The memory of the friend they lost weighs heavily on the single, but there is a universal feeling to the pain and disbelief that anyone who has lost a loved one can relate to. Alex and Yaps have been writing music together since 2016, but have known each other since they met at Iona College in 2005.
You can feel the sadness of ‘How Can You Be Gone?’ from the first piano note. The piano-driven melody has a rainy day feeling to it as you are drawn into the pained musing of the lyrics. While the piano on its own effortlessly creates the sad atmosphere of the track, the mournful strings add an extra sense of grief. For all its relative minimalism, the melody is really powerful as it fills you with the despairing emotions of the track.
While the melody does create the foundation of sadness that the single rests on, it is Alex’s vocals that really tear into your chest. From the first word, you can hear the disbelief and pain of loss in her performance. The lyrics take you through the slow movements that come when you first learn of a passing to the continued pain each time you think of the person. Her performance is unbelievably moving and you can easily feel the welling of tears in your eyes. While there is a touch of acceptance of the passing as the single goes on, the pain and lost feeling remains. There is no way that you can listen to this single and not be affected by the soul-deep sense of loss and pain that Alex has infused into each note.
Alex unleashes her saddest song ever and has you feeling her despair, grief and disbelief at the passing of a loved one in ‘How Can You Be Gone?’. The piano-driven melody forms the emotional foundation of the single, but it is Alex’s vocals that bring serious emotional hits. From the first moment, she hits you in the chest with pain and grief which sticks with you even as you move to a tentative acceptance of the loss.
Find out more about Alex on her website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
