We love snow globes because they are controlled microcosms — it is us, the external force, that decides when and how intensely to shake up those tiny, mystical worlds. sosi’s recent single “old days to new ways” takes a look at her life from the outside in. It’s an intricate arrangement of the past and present coming to a head in a pattern as unique and complicated as the individual snowflake.
Cozy but contrite, “old days to new ways” is reminiscent of an afternoon by the cackling fire or the tip of a rosy, frostbitten nose. Deftly produced by stranger, a distinct ambiance with intermittent records scratches and silken instrumentals is set. A downcast guitar intro gently wafts into sosi’s voice, itself a warm breath on an icy window.
The world is unpredictable, and sosi continually finds herself bumping into unforeseen obstacles: “I keep running into every wall, and I keep on finding new ways to fall. I keep taking paths I didn’t even mean to find.” Like the snow settling after a particularly hard shake, sosi feels trapped under an omnipresent, unnamed force preventing her from fully holding on to hope.
The melancholy tune, mixed and mastered by kellbender, is a comfortably harsh reminder that not all battles can be won. Even the cover art of a half-closed hand perhaps alludes to “I’m losing but holding with all that I got,” a grasp at thin air like holding hands with a ghost. A soft delivery like sosi’s makes the experience, though mournful, dreamlike.
To feel alone in an environment once known so well can be scary. Connecting through the indescribable relations of music can take the edge off, even if just a bit. Listen to and feel through sosi’s affecting single with us here.