On his newest track, "Change The Chord," singer-songwriter Brookln Dekker gives a sumptuous, immersive soundscape that's as intimate as it is grand. The American-born, Nottingham-based indie-folk artist has been ploughing away and carving out a sound, and this new single, the last precursor to the release of his fourth album "Neither Up Nor Down," is quite possibly his most poignant yet.
Structured on folk-rock skeletons but imbued with inescapable indie-folk ghosts, "Change The Chord" is carried by the peculiar crunch of groove and softness. The track also leans hard on its electric guitar base, a departure that immediately distinguishes it in Dekker's burgeoning discography. But it's the rhythm led by drummer Stefan Wittich's hypnotic, slightly off-kilter beat that imparts the song with its dreamy, swaying pulse.
"Change The Chord" turns a small gesture into a big metaphor, played out through the medium of music. For Dekker, changing a chord isn't a technical maneuver so much as a gesture of renewal, possibility, reconciliation. It is a song that emphasizes a belief that music itself can be altered with a single change of a chord, and so too can our lives. It's a meditation on emotional salvage, a whisper of commentary on the drag of humanity, yet also a flicker of hope for redemption.
There's a lushness to Dekker's delivery, a warmth that is grounded while also unafraid to aim for transcendence. The groove and texture of the song keep fans coming back for repeated listens to hear the interplay between guitar and rhythm, and the different layers reveal themselves with each play. Highly experimental, it maintains its odd meter with a gentility that never pushes against being accessible, and it's a delicate reminder that there can be beauty in the weirdest and unlikeliest patterns. As one of the last glimmers of "Neither Up Nor Down," "Change The Chord" sets the mood for an album full of introspection and musical exploration. Dekker continues to establish himself as not just a songwriter but also as a storyteller who knows the fragile dance between fear and rebirth well. In this track, he extends a lifeline.
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