Hele’s latest single, ‘Air Between Us’, to me feels like an ode to an existence that’s seemingly content in isolation from the clutter all around us. It has a strangely disorienting melody at first, but it starts to flesh itself out slowly and lusciously through a mesmerizingly hypnotic display of intricate live strings, subtle key work, and a backing ensemble of field recordings to add to the landscape being carved sonically in your ear. It’s in these sounds of real life, the very real and palpable feeling of being out in the world around you that there’s a whole other dimension added to the weight and emotional impact that ‘Air Between Us’ has.
I feel strangely relieved hearing this song. Even in a moment of complete and utter loneliness, when there’s not a soul around me and my phone doesn’t have a single text to reply to, there’s a sense of comfort in the calmness of it all that Hele’s able to create for me. One of the most special and evocative instrumental pieces I’ve had the pleasure to experience, and one that I’m bound to go back to numerous times to relive that same sensation.