Comfort, Edge – Helena Deland
Comfort, Edge – Helena Deland
16 October 2020 - from Someone New
There’s a soft rage in this record that retreats from antagonism and becomes demanding. Wrapped in a contradicting desire, Deland wavers between pleasure and pain that she has no intention of leaving. The introduction is a murmuring nightmare. Listen closely and you hear Deland sing beneath the whispering and guitars. The whispered lines are to be spoken to her partner. The hidden lyrics reveal that they are asleep or inattentive next to her. In comes the guitar, screaming out the rage that Deland tries to contain: “No you’ll never make a fool of me.” There’s bitterness in how she reminds herself that she won’t let herself lose the game she plays.
The verses get in your face and crash on each beat as the guitar builds up the scale. It feels as if at the end of each line, Deland drops back to submitting herself. Ultimately, she alludes that she’ll come back: “I’ll never have to doubt when I come back/ you’ll still be there for me.” Her chorus sings to the polarity of her relationship that delivers both comfort and edge. It draws away from the aggressive downbeat strumming and lyrics in the verses. Are things going well, or are they deteriorating? It’s just as Deland wants it: “let me come for calm and peace/ never stop surprising me.”
The second verse returns to the mystery she feels from her partner. So much is occluded, but Deland’s rhythm in these lines feels inquisitive in her observation. She knows that there is darkness in the situation, but perhaps she allows herself to be deceived: “A trail of hints I can’t see: you’ll fuck me over.” Another aggressive bridge rides to resolution with the final chorus. The juxtaposition of something so difficult to live with but so easy to exist in are well said: “give me comfort, give me edge/ make it easy, make me beg.” As the guitar plays a solo, the listener follows the singer’s sleep-talking back to bed.
The production pairs well with Deland’s writing and vocals. Guitars and percussion rock between uneasiness and relief. They create a beat that feels like it can transition into an R&B vibe with subtle syncopation in the strumming. In the track, Helena Deland paints an image of a dark bedroom with the drowsy rumbling and tension of a strenuous relationship. It’s a gambit, but the comfort is just as rewarding.