Music Spotlight: Marika Hackman “Drown”
There are certain pieces of art in this world that have a specific essence around them; something that conjures up an extreme emotional response from the consumer. The effect that songs, paintings, and other art forms have are completely unique to the individual, but there is a defined moment when a viewer or listener discovers an immediate connection with the art.
For me, this song was one of those moments.
I honestly don’t know a single thing about Marika Hackman other than the fact that, based on her music video for “Drown”, she’s really good at holding her breath. But after hearing this song, I’m definitely taking a closer look at the singer’s work.
Her voice is fairly standard indie stuff, but you can pick up small influences from hundreds of other artists from the current and past indie scene, whether it be the effects she puts on her background vocals, her simple guitar pattern, or the almost imperceptible dipping bass that characterizes the chorus. Collectively, the song becomes a living being in and of itself. And the chorus, it’s just downright–eerie. If Grizzly Bear and Bon Iver had a baby girl, it would be Marika Hackman.
The song gives me chills, it’s as simple as that. It just has that special artistic quality about it that strikes a chord with me (NoPunIntendedOhManIAmSoSorryForThatPleaseForgiveMe).
The music video for “Drown” does a lot of things for me:
a) It’s visually captivating and extremely well done.
b) It actually relates to the song, which is a very refreshing concept.
c) It has successfully compiled all my phobias into three minutes and fifty-one seconds.
I have Agoraphobia, which is basically a fear of any and all things public or open. If you put me in the middle of a party full of people I don’t know, a corn field, or the middle of the ocean, I would legitimately freak out. Subsequently, I also have an intense fear of drowning (but also an intense love for swimming, which sort of sucks). I actually almost drowned this past summer, which didn’t help. But anyway.
In the music video, we see Marika Hackman being drowned by some unknown character only seen from the elbow to the hand, which clutches Marika’s hair and holds her underwater. No pool walls can be seen, no ocean or pool floor, just never ending nothingness all around her. To me, this is the ultimate nightmare–and yet I can’t seem to look away. There’s just something about the dynamic of the video in combination with the creepiness of the song that draws me in. And as suffocatingly horrific the experience is for me, it’s intoxicating and addictive at the same time.
Seriously one of my favorites now. Check her out.
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Much love,
Erin