While we at Tuonela Magazine are, first and foremost, a metal magazine, but we also like to keep our eyes and ears open for other underground artists of note. On this occasion, we stumbled upon a Karelian-born, Germany-based electronic music creator, cadeu, who paired up with a long-time collaborator, spellsinmyhead (also from Karelia), to release a song called “attention” on March 24th, 2023. Luckily for us, we had the opportunity to hear the song beforehand and are thus able to share it with you today, the day before its official release!
cadeu and spellsinmyhead have known one another since the first grade, having grown up in the same part of Karelia, though life has taken the former to Berlin, Germany, and the latter to Tallinn, Estonia. This song is one of many collaborations between the two of them, spanning back to their school days together.
cadeu comments: “‘attention’ is a genre-bending mix with nods to the classic sounds of [the] jungle. The emotional performance from spellsinmyhead captures the essence of the song, which explores themes of being heard and seen, the need for recognition and validation, and ultimately, even the idea of one’s own mortality and the transience of life.”
spellsinmyhead comments: “I usually do a bit darker electronic music and [cadeu] is into experimental IDM, exploring different subgenres. We collaborate on a regular basis and this last piece is an experiment for us too, as cadeu turns now more to distinct melodies and uses a lot of vocals, comparing to what he used to do. There is no special story of [this song’s] creation. We just did it back and forth, exchanging ideas – cadeu made the music and wrote the lyrics and then I played with the melody a bit, making some changes and variations to the tune while singing it, and then he put it all together.”
The track features what I can only refer to as a shuffling sound, layered with a lot of little electronic elements and samples that create a great deal of texture, while soft, melodic vocals almost whisper the lyrics into your ears. The song creates an almost ethereal atmosphere, wherein the music permeates the essence of one’s self, leaving a haunting yet beautiful impression in its wake.
Listen now on SoundCloud and be sure to save it to your playlists on the official release tomorrow!
