Unknown Vagabond – “Warm Tide (Left Blank)”

Winterthur, Switzerland-based Unknown Vagabond returns with the sublime atmospheric indie rock track “Warm Tide (Left Blank)”

Some songs just hit a meditative note within your soul, and “Warm Tide (Left Blank)” is one of them. It has a widescreen sonic beauty, a dreamy melancholy and atmosphere that I would compare to Doves. So yes, this is one for music lovers who just can’t resist a cathartic anthem.

The music is built around a staccato, plotting piano groove that makes you think of The Beatles, especially John Lennon. We also get that Strawberry Fields-style flute Mellotron, but that is where The Beatles comparisons come to an end. Beyond that foundation, we have an ethereal outpouring of movement. An utterly entrancing barrage of sound from the analogue keyboard motifs, the slow strut of the drums, the deep bass and the vivid but sparse guitar work… It is spellbinding… confidently encapsulating the song’s meaning, which Unknown Vagabond states as capturing “the dreamlike warmth of a summer evening by the ocean.”

Unknown Vagabond delivers a haunting vocal with a sweet but unusual timbre that, again, I would compare to Doves. The performance however never takes centre stage but instead reinforces the introspection, the sense of wonder and the beauty at the heart of this track. 

Bewildering, dreamy and addictive, “Warm Tide (Left Blank)” is an impeccably constructed cinematic ballad that will have you holding your cigarette lighter high above your head.

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