Norwegian-based singer-songwriter Tiril Hognestad releases mournful new single “Never Mine” out today on Melancholy Melody Machine Records.
Following the release of her debut EP Morning Thoughts, in 2017, Tiril Hognestad has switched gears to a more synth-heavy sound with her brand new release “Never Mine”.
Taking inspiration from Father John Misty’s track “Just Dumb Enough To Try” and Julee Cruise’s contribution to the soundtrack for the TV show Twin Peaks, “Never Mine” has the melancholic sensibilities of a folk song melded together with something far more driving and ethereal sounding. The low, twanging guitars that coalesce in the final two minutes of “Never Mine” seem like a nod to the oddness and romanticism of David Lynch’s series.
As well as drawing musical inspiration for the track, listening to Father John Misty’s album God’s Favorite Customer and having “always admired the candidness of his (Father John Misty’s) work”, Hognestad was stirred by his frankness and simplicity when it came to lyricism and has here emulated this to great effect.
Without relying upon dramatic embellishment or over the top declaratives, “Never Mine” encapsulates the feeling of “longing for something you’ve lost, that you never truly had”. There really isn’t a better way to sum up this feeling than the way in which Tiril Hognestad does in the track, her pealing voice singing “Oh why can’t you feel me?/Like I can feel you? All this time, I was yours/But you were never mine”.
There’s a steady build-up throughout the track as the fragility of the first half of “Never Mine” makes way for a more lamenting and wailing second. Then, another layer of synths begins to stir and swirl and eventually melts into the aforementioned eerie twang of the guitars. In this section, Tiril Hognestad’s voice is the anchor that keeps the song from descending into chaotic abysses. There’s a stoic power to her voice despite its inherently airy quality, that stems from the bluntness of the lyrics and the strength that is found in such open vulnerability.
To close up the song, we get a glimpse of Tiril Hognestad relinquishing the feelings she had for this unnamed person; the one-sided relationship in which she gives far more than she gets in return is given up in a final sigh of release.
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