Hail – I Can’t Breathe (2021)
Hail brought back the old emo rock scene with her guilt-ridden single ‘A Stain in Time’. With her new single, ‘I Can’t Breathe’, she turns to dark thoughts seeped in pain and despair. The single follows a tragic loss due to an accident with the lyrics from the perspective of a survivor wracked with the guilt of being the only one alive.
While the story of the single is fictitious, there is nothing made up about the emotions dripping from every note. The despair and pain meld with the guilt of survival in the face of overwhelming loss for a single that lodges deep in your chest. Using her symphonic gothic soundscape, Hail has you sinking into a dark atmosphere while shivering with emotion.
The piano opening of ‘I Can’t Breathe’ elegantly draws you into the single. The guitar lines that lightly twang over the piano bring the rock element to the track as the melody starts to build in power. This comes to a head on the chorus as the guitars crash into a crescendo that bolsters the vocals. The drop after the chorus back to the piano line sends a shiver through you as it forms a haunting dip only to creep into the build-up again. The ebb and flow of the melody are like the waves of emotions that build up until they burst out of you.
Hail’s vocals are extremely powerful on this track and you are left in awe of the control she has. In the build-up to the chorus, her vocals are almost like a gothic waltz. When the song hits the chorus, her voice bursts out with the guitars to cry out with the pain and despair of the single. She is unbelievably emotive in her delivery as she whispers in depression before crying out with pain and lodging both emotions in your throat.
Hail whispers in despair before calling out in pain through the gothic soundscape of ‘I Can’t Breathe’. With a building tension that breaks on the chorus, the single inundates you with guilt, pain and depression. Hail’s vocals powerfully thrust these emotions into your chest while captivating you with her emotive delivery.
Find out more about Hail on her Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
