“Hatillo 2” is the latest single from Icarus Phoenix, continuing to showcase the Baltimore-based project’s penchant for emotively gripping songwriting regarding life’s most sensitive moments. The single is a follow-up to last month’s excellent full-length, I Should Have Known the Things You Never Said, which we featured in-depth.
Guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Drew Danburry explains: “Although easier to digest as a metaphor for the end of a relationship and written with that intention in mind, this song was actually written based on an experience I had in the city of San Jose, Costa Rica in the neighborhood of Hatillo 2.” He continues: “It’s not something I’m comfortable talking about in detail but it involves an actual death that I witnessed/experienced and a reflection on that particular relationship I had.”
The experience provided Danburry a reason to explore the beautiful complexity of people, rather than pigeon-holing them into a “good” “bad” or “cruel” descriptions. He describes the track as “the literal keystone,” to the preceding album release. Steady guitar warmness and lush piano infuse a serenely contemplative vocal flow, as poignant lyricism captures the aforementioned thematic drive: “”It’s strange to me how we’ll only be / The best of friends or worst enemies, nothing in-between.”
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This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
