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How to Live

An Echoic’s latest single “How to Live” is a tongue-in-cheek reflection on hopelessness.

An Echoic’s latest single “How to Live” is a tongue-in-cheek reflection on hopelessness. A loop of despair so deep that it becomes your one-person inside joke. With a certain touch of freak folk, the song has a strange ambiguity that could fool you into optimism if you didn’t pay attention to the lyrics. 

“A very personal experience inspired me to focus on this topic.” An Echoic explains. “A very personal experience called trying to live life.” To the Malmö-based singer-songwriter, there is incoherence in trying to live up to all expectations. “It’s not just that it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work to the point where it’s actually silly.”

Its original version was recorded nearly three years ago. “I tried to make a vocal booth by hanging my duvet over an upright ping-pong table.” he remembers. While the initial recording experiment didn’t fly, the creative process moved forward thanks to the insistence of producer Andrew Feels. An Echoic’s steady collaborator is also known for his work with artists like Emma Beckett.

The overarching topics of most of An Echoic’s music are personal identity and introspection. His two EPs “An Echoic EP” (2016) and “Headless Heathen” (2018) go beyond typical alt-folk expectations. Unconventional harmony and sound design are two of his recurrent themes. 

“How to Live” will be released via Rexius Records on March 11th, part of a series of singles with similar aesthetics.

Artwork by: Georgia Rose

An Echoic