Just when I thought I couldn’t fall deeper in love with Eerie Shores, they released "Emily" and here I am - in love with their music much more than before. "Emily," released on November 20th, 2020 is a track with a fresh, new sound for the band. The instrumentation in this new song is absolutely breathtaking. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for acoustic tracks, but Eerie Shores finds a very unique way to bring new depth to this stripped-down acoustic masterpiece.
“Emily” is anything but your run-of-the-mill acoustic song. Each time you listen to it, you’ll find different layers and sounds that create an enchanting backdrop for the lyrics. Eerie Shores have found a way to mesh traditional acoustic sound with obscurity like a slide guitar & a mandolin to create a new, unique auditory landscape for them. With each verse, you're met with a sound that's special and beautiful.
This track is breathtaking by the instrumentals and lyrically captivating. Alex Vasiloff’s vocals are really able to shine through on it, and with being able to hear clearly every word of this song, it makes it that much more personal to me. The beautifully voiced lyrics tell a story about a give-and-take relationship that ends up being all give. There is no reciprocity, one side ends up doing all the work trying to mend what’s broken by the other party. This kind of relationship, be it with a friend, a partner, or a parent, is absolutely exhausting, and unfortunately often hard to get out of.
While letting go of Emily might be difficult, I hung on tightly to every word in this song. The premise of a one sided relationship spoke to me instantly on a very personal level. The line “I saw you choking on the waves / I hope the water tastes okay,” makes me chuckle a little bit when I hear it. It sounds like a slight dig at that person you left on that beach, drowning in their own mess. Once you leave her (Emily), and she tries to make it on her own, she’s finally able to see how much you did for her while you stuck around. Experiencing the aftermath of leaving her behind and watching her struggle now that you're gone can seem a little bittersweet. You’ll be okay without her, but will she be able to cope without you now?
“I was there to tell you help was on the way,” feels like the turning point in the relationship. It’s that moment you realize that no matter what you do, no matter how much of yourself you give to this person, nothing is going to change. Emily is always going to “need” you. But you can no longer be the hand reaching out to offer assistance because doing so is slowly killing you. She’s stuck in the waves and if you stay, you’ll both drown. You can’t get away, though, before letting Emily know that there is help coming, but it won’t be you providing it.
"...it’s hard to come to terms with the fact that this person isn’t really someone that loves you. Or if they do, it’s not in a way that’s compatible with the way you need to be loved."
The line that hit home for me the most, though, is “I think something’s wrong with me / because all I see is Emily." Even reading it now gives me chills. Having had my own experience with an “Emily," it’s hard to come to terms with the fact that this person isn’t really someone that loves you. Or if they do, it’s not in a way that’s compatible with the way you need to be loved. When they’re gone, even if you know you’re better off without them, you still catch yourself thinking of them. Maybe you see them in faces of people passing you by on the street, or in the headlights of oncoming traffic. When you do, you’re left blind, attempting to regain your own vision in a world without Emily, trying to learn what love actually is for you. Sometimes it feels a little (or a lot) crazy to miss something or someone that caused you so much pain.
I fell in love with this song so quickly because it’s like someone took 2018 me and transcribed her into words I could never seem to find on my own, and backed those lyrics with a stunning musical rendition of the way I felt when I left my Emily. This Emily, the one encapsulated in these lyrics may be metaphorical, but I’ve met her personally, and I think a lot of other people have as well. She might have a different name or another face. Maybe your Emily was left not on some sandy beach, but on a rainy day in some parking lot off 99E, but her defining characteristics were the same. Always one to take, and never able to seem to find it in themselves to give anything in return. You are left feeling selfish, maybe even crazy, for wanting a little bit more. But in reality there’s nothing crazy about wanting someone to meet you halfway. Relationships in any capacity, romantic, platonic, familial, should be reciprocal. And if they aren’t, maybe they’re better left on the other coast, across the sea, waiting on that beach with Emily.
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