“Save your breath, there’s nothing you can say. I’m gonna say it anyway”, that’s the opening line of Sam Giffords most recent release “Shadows in the Dark”. There has been a certain sense of inevitability lately - you switch on the news and all you see is cycles of fear and division. That is the feeling that fuelled this song, but instead of letting it tear him down, Giffords uses that energy to find strength in himself. The result is a powerful anthem to resilience that calls us to stay hopeful and get up even after we’ve been beaten down.

There’s moving duality in the balance the lyrics find between speaking of pain and hardship, and deciding to hold on regardless - with a strong declaration: “my heart is still alive”. The song comes from a very vulnerable place developing from a whisper to shout. This translates beautifully into the arrangement that develops from a nice acoustic feel to an anthemic soundscape. The journey it takes you on feels truly cathartic, it has a similar effect on me as “Fix You” by Coldplay. It embraces you softly to then grow into a cry-along, ehm, I mean sing-along emotional explosion with a driving beat and airy electric guitars. 

“Shadows in the Dark” is a single from his upcoming EP ‘A Second of Love’, and love is truly at the core of this beautiful song. In the artist's words “I wrote about willing the impossible to become possible and about love so determined it is blind to reality.” There’s a beautiful stubbornness in being resilient when the whole world seems to be turned upside down. And I’m all for it, let’s plant seeds in the sand until better times come. 

This gem has been added to our "Fresh Indie" and our "Artist Pick" Spotify playlists, make sure you follow the playlists below to discover incredible new music every day.

Written by Luna.

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