Suzanne Cook revives her folk-rock roots on her exploratory, moody new single and video Waking Dream — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
Narrating the story of an aging relationship, the song combines an ambiguous melody with R.E.M. influences and soulful, wailing guitar for a song that’s an entire cinematic experience:
“I’m silent running, away from you
And the way we’re parting, it hurts me, too
And the best of reasons, lie with you
We lost our way, as lovers do.”
“It’s a love song about relationship that has worn thin,” Cook explains. “Perhaps this relationship was begun when the girl was still young, and she’s simply grown up and apart from her lover, who is too self-involved to notice the distance which is opening between them.”
The title song from Cook’s forthcoming album, Waking Dream evokes gray skies with occasional light poking through, thunder in its gorgeous guitar accents, and an internal twisting turmoil amid an outwardly cozy home.
“The key to the melody is somewhat ambiguous, never confirmed as major, or minor — a mode that reflects the mood of the lyrics,” Cook describes. “It finishes with an unusual cadence where the rhythm section stops, unexpectedly, on the fourth-degree chord. This creates a sense of incompleteness — there are questions yet to be answered.”
The song was recorded with producer Mark Plati (Prince, David Bowie) at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. “Mark’s arrangement is dynamic,” she says. “He finds oceans of space which allows the song to breathe. I love the fact that he uses live string players; before this album we had always used string pads or samples played on a keyboard.”
Watch the video for Waking Dream above, hear more from Suzanne Cook below, and find her at her website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
