Amber Run move listeners with new single, 52 Blue. This single is rich in echoed vocals and has a heart-breaking backstory.

Rating: 4/5

British band, Amber Run, are back with their heart-wrenching new single, 52 Blue. Let me tell you now, there are not enough tears to cry. Joshua Keogh, the lead singer, has explained the story behind this track: coming from loneliness at its purest form.

We have all experienced a difficult year, between historical events and the pandemic, and the band has been inspired by the emptiness we have all been feeling. Incidentally, the title of the song derives from the existence of a specific blue whale. For all its life, this blue whale wanders aimlessly around the ocean and its wails are unheard of.

At the end of the day, we are all 52 blue, wandering around the Earth in search of someone who will listen to our cries for help.

The power of introspection

The song starts with Keogh’s warm vocals that follow through the melody, accompanied by synths and reverberated guitars. “Was I born just so I could die? / If so, will you be there to meet me at the gate?” is the first line. This sets the tone for an introspective and deep song about human existence and feeling alone.

A series of questions follow, such as “Did you create both my spirit and my brain? Did you loan me both my body and my shape? If so, then why choose to build me this way?”, to which the singer answers honestly and desperately: “[I’m] a frame struggling to sustain the weight”.

Needing music now more than ever

Modern life has left many individuals dissatisfied, and music is only one of the ways to express this. However, if there is one thing we can all learn from this beautiful and melancholic single by Amber Run, is that even in the deepest loneliness, we will never be the only ones.

In conclusion, Amber Run have done a brilliant job in conveying comfort and desperation in one short track. They have followed their footsteps of genre and style, which is not necessarily a bad thing. They have created another song to keep their listeners’ company.