Augustine tries to get off the Slow Train to nowhere in her darkly atmospheric and emotionally compelling single and video — premiering exclusively on Tinnitist.
The first preview of the ethereal Montreal singer-songwriter’s upcoming sophomore album Neither Nightmares Nor Dreams Come True, the fittingly languid Slow Train takes the listener on an elegantly bittersweet journey of heartbreaking self-assessment. Opening with a pair of lightly strummed guitars whose ringing notes and reverberating chords shimmer and ripple, the nocturnal track gradually and gracefully builds to a darkly rich indie-folk lament, artfully decorated with layers of plucked strings and swelling orchestral flourishes. Above it all float Augustine’s intimate angelic vocals, sharing an insistently intimate internal monologue about taking stock, accepting defeat and getting back on track:
“Don’t you hear it
Your clock ticks
How long will you contemplate like this?
Oh, come on, get a grip
“Get off of that slow train
It ain’t taking you nowhere
Quit rowing that leaky boat
You won’t make it through the storm if you stay on board.”
“I wrote Slow Train as attempt to soothe feelings of failure,” the singer-songwriter confesses. “It’s a song about daydreaming, having a relentless need to achieve more, to succeed. And realizing that it may not happen.”
Offering a melancholic and intimate dark folk that sounds both familiar and strangely unique, Augustine’s music is equally delicate and powerful — it envelops as much as it confronts. Her noteworthy first album The Devil in Me (2016) paints with gentle, somber brushes the picture of her obsessions: Failure, dreaming, longing and love. She now returns with a darker, more asserted second opus; Neither Nightmares Nor Dreams Come True is a haunting musical experience, a proposition of wider scope, still carried by Augustine’s distinctive and poignant voice. Her meticulously crafted music draws from multiple influences, from dark wave to rock and folk, with elements of experimental music and medieval soundscapes.
Watch Alain Chevarier and Alexandre Leblanc’s video for Slow Train above, listen to the song below, and dream along with Augustine on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
