Kite, 2024, by Therese Öhrvall
Swedish synth-pop phenomenon Kite’s second 7 inch since signing with Dais in 2023 finds the duo of Nicklas Stenemo and Christian Hutchinson Berg swinging for new heights of romantic desolation and baroque grandeur.
The B Side, "Glassy Eyes," showcases Kite’s mastery of somber, sweeping balladry. Hushed church organ elevates and anchors Stenemo’s devastated confessional, swaying between resilience and defeat. The band describes the song as a reckoning with "the privileged and existential anxiety of drifting through life dispassionately,” contrasted with “the yearning to connect profoundly with others and a desire for experiences that stir the soul before facing one’s final moments." Like a hymn, the emotion thickens as it deepens, approaching both darkness and divinity: "Deep as I go, nothing to find / Oh catatonia, I won’t cry / Nothing can grow, everything dies / Behind my glassy eyes."
Additionally, Kite have released a live version of "Glassy Eyes", performed at Kite’s triumphant 2023 homecoming show at Dalhalla, the legendary limestone-quarry-turned-open-air-theater in Dalarna, Sweden. The venue’s dramatic acoustics heighten the song’s spatial elegance, further fusing its beauty and tragedy into a forlorn, forsaken eternity