Berlin-based alternative pop, dark wave artist Sally Dige gives us a new single “You”, from her later to be released album +photo from upcoming feature in KEYI Magazine

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The song shows a more diverse direction for Sally with a guitar-driven romantic-nostalgic song full of summerish magic. The single is mixed by Victor Van Vugt(Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey) and written, recorded, produced and performed by Sally Dige. 

“You” is about letting go, despite the heart pulling you back with its memories. “Memories are interesting to me, because I find that I look back often at the events in my life: good and bad, to see if there is a story or message there. Time allows me to observe past events from a distance. This also made me think of past relationships in our lives – ones that were significant during a part of our own history, but no longer are present in our current lives. We are left only with the memory and reflection. The memories can be good, or they can be bad, but the reflection is maybe the most valuable and meaningful gift those relationships left us.” says Dige. 

The song was written and recorded during the pandemic lockdown; using the acoustic guitar as the main instrument and subsequently looping chords, melodies and sounds to build the song up, and then slowly dissolving back to how it started, with only the acoustic guitar.

“I had never owned an acoustic guitar before in my life, and then one day I had that cliché moment of just wanting to play “The Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel on an acoustic guitar, so I found a guitar for sale, online in my neighbourhood that fit my requirements: “under 30 euros, and that came with a capo” (my guitar also came with a stand). Soon after playing a few covers at home of, “The Sound of Silence” and getting bored of it, I  began to play around with my own fingerpicking melodies and in a fiery moment that came rushing through me in the middle of the night, the melody of “You” arrived. As hastily as I could, I recorded the melody. What followed during the next few days was writing all the additional melodies, chords and song structure. It all came to me so fast, as though I couldn’t write the melodies fast enough to match what I was hearing in my head,” says Dige.

Photo KEYI STUDIO / Izabella Chrobok & Grzegorz Bacinski

Sally Dige (pronounced “Dee-ah”) spent the last 10 years releasing synth-driven, dark wave songs that were often played in dark, underground nightclubs. But her latest single, “You” takes a dramatic turn in her musical journey, a ‘coffee shop’ would be more fitting, than a ‘club’ for the setting of this song. Stripped of all the cold, synth layers, hard hitting kick-drum and commanding voice, Dige goes full country-folk-soft-rock in “You”. Although very different to her previous dark-wave sound, the song is still very much a Sally Dige song.

The main standout quality of this song is the acoustic guitar. The song feels warm, sunny and summery. This dramatic shift in sound didn’t come without concern for Dige. She knew very well that unless you are David Bowie, it’s not too often we see artists jumping between musical genres so freely. 

Dige writes, “I know it sounds silly to mention ‘being afraid’ but I think for a lot of artists, we do feel afraid – afraid to change and afraid that if we do, will we still be accepted by the people who love us? 

I had a few people bring up the obvious points of dramatically shifting musical genres under the same artist name and the challenges it brings; “Is it confusing for people?” “Do I fear messing up the algorithm with different musical genres under the same name?” “Would I rather not start a side project for the new musical journey I am on?” And with every question I thought long and hard  because those are valid questions. In my conclusive decision, I planted my feet firmly on the ground and decided that I would not feel afraid to change – no matter how drastically in sound and visuals I should venture, and if all the world should abandon me for not churning out a cold, dark-wave club track, but rather an acoustic guitar country-folk track, and for other different songs I should write in the future. I would feel fine with it.

As artists, our work is so important in our lives just like meaningful relationships. My past songs and sound were significant in my own history. I was always present in those eras, and I do not want to feel fear for embracing a new era, nor fear if I should decide to go back to my own dark wave roots too. I do not want to feel fear no matter which way I turn. In all these phases of our lives, it is always ourselves in all the stories, moments, songs, and so on. Whether in your history or in your present day, it will always be You.”

The song is accompanied by a dreamy music video that shows Sally in two settings: one set in a dreamy field with a bright flowing dress; a feeling of warmth and content, and the other in a bustling city that depicts a more isolating and lonesome atmosphere as Sally becomes more anonymous with the flow of people moving around her. The music video was shot mostly on Super 8 and was written, directed and edited by Sally Dige herself.

这首歌显示了莎莉更多样化的方向,是一首吉他驱动的浪漫怀旧歌曲,充满了夏日的魔力。这首单曲由Victor Van Vugt(Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey)混音,由Sally Dige作曲、录音、制作和演奏。


“你 “是关于放手,尽管心脏用它的回忆把你拉回来。”记忆对我来说很有趣,因为我发现我经常回顾我生命中的事件:好的和坏的,看看那里是否有一个故事或信息。时间让我能够从远处观察过去的事件。这也让我想到了我们生活中过去的关系–那些在我们自己的一段历史中很重要的关系,但不再出现在我们现在的生活中。我们只留下了记忆和思考。记忆可能是好的,也可能是坏的,但反思也许是那些关系留给我们的最有价值和意义的礼物。”迪格说。

这首歌是在大流行病封锁期间创作和录制的;使用木吉他作为主要乐器,随后循环播放和弦、旋律和声音来建立这首歌,然后慢慢溶入到它开始的样子,只用木吉他。

“我一生中从未拥有过一把原声吉他,然后有一天,我有了那个老生常谈的时刻,就是想用原声吉他演奏西蒙和加芬克尔的《寂静之声》,所以我在网上找到了一把出售的吉他,在我的街区,符合我的要求。我在网上找到了一把符合我要求的吉他:”30欧元以下,而且还附带一个卡波”(我的吉他还附带一个支架)。在家里弹了几首翻唱的《寂静之声》后,很快就感到厌烦了,我开始用自己的指法弹奏旋律,在一个火热的时刻,我在半夜里突然想到了《你》的旋律。我尽可能匆忙地录制了这段旋律。接下来的几天里,我写下了所有额外的旋律、和弦和歌曲结构。这一切都来得如此之快,仿佛我无法以足够快的速度写出旋律来配合我脑海中听到的东西。

Sally Dige(发音为 “Dee-ah”)在过去的10年里发布了合成器驱动的黑暗波浪歌曲,这些歌曲经常在黑暗的地下夜总会播放。但她的最新单曲《你》在她的音乐旅程中出现了戏剧性的转折,”咖啡馆 “比 “俱乐部 “更适合作为这首歌的背景。剥去所有冰冷的合成器层,硬梆梆的踢鼓和命令式的声音,迪格在《你》中完全采用了乡村民俗软摇滚。虽然与她以前的暗波音乐非常不同,但这首歌在很大程度上仍然是Sally Dige的作品。

Photo by Jaakko Saarilahti

这首歌的主要突出特点是木吉他。这首歌给人以温暖、阳光和夏日的感觉。这种声音上的戏剧性转变对Dige来说并非毫无顾虑。她非常清楚,除非你是大卫-鲍伊,否则我们很少看到艺术家在音乐流派之间如此自由地跳跃。

Dige写道:”我知道提到’害怕’听起来很傻,但我认为对很多艺术家来说,我们确实感到害怕–害怕改变,害怕如果我们改变了,我们还会被爱我们的人接受吗?

我有几个人提出了在同一个艺术家的名字下戏剧性地改变音乐类型的明显观点,以及它带来的挑战;”这对人们来说是混乱的吗?” “我是否担心在同一个名字下有不同的音乐类型会弄乱算法?” “我是否宁愿不为我正在进行的新的音乐旅程开始一个副业?” 而对于每一个问题,我都想了很久,因为这些都是有道理的问题。在我的决定中,我把我的脚牢牢地踩在地上,并决定我不会感到害怕改变–不管我应该在声音和视觉上有多大的冒险,如果全世界都抛弃我,因为我没有搅动出一首冷酷的暗波俱乐部曲目,而是一首原声吉他乡村民谣曲目,以及我在未来应该写的其他不同歌曲。我也会觉得无所谓。

作为艺术家,我们的工作在我们的生活中是如此重要,就像有意义的关系。我过去的歌曲和声音在我自己的历史中是很重要的。我一直存在于那些时代,我不想为拥抱一个新的时代而感到恐惧,也不想在我决定回到我自己的暗潮根源时感到恐惧。我不希望无论我转向哪个方向都会感到恐惧。在我们生活的所有这些阶段,在所有的故事、时刻、歌曲等等中,总是我们自己。无论是在你的历史中还是在你的今天,它永远是你。”

这首歌配有一个梦幻般的音乐视频,展示了萨利在两个环境中的表现:一个场景是在梦幻般的田野上,穿着明亮的飘逸的衣服;一种温暖和满足的感觉,另一个场景是在一个繁华的城市,描绘了一种更加孤立和孤独的气氛,萨利随着周围流动的人群变得更加无名。这部音乐录影带主要是用Super 8拍摄的,由Sally Dige自己编写、导演和编辑。