“Tranås/Stenslanda” (Kite song) – Queen City Sounds and Art

Kite_Tranas-Stenslanda1_crop — Kite “Tranås/Stenslanda” cover (cropped)

Swedish duo Kite’s track “Tranås/Stenslanda” begins like the elevated, even majestic, music for the introductory ceremony of the ice skating portion of the Olympics. Synths like great sheets of wind flow behind the vocals, evoking images of a performer ringed in light singing to the heavens. The bright drones and tonal accents matching those of the percussion augment a sense dramatic. But the song is in the end a kind of introspective, bittersweet look back on years spent coming of age in a small, rural setting dreaming of a escaping to a life of one’s own away from the real and imagined limitations of home even as one’s personality and to some extent one’s character was shaped by those early experiences. The song seems to celebrate in its melancholy fashion that time when those dreams of transcending the context of your circumstances and yearning for things that seemed so beautiful and desirable even though maybe once you got away you find aren’t as romantic in the living of it that you once thought. But there’s no denying the attraction of having genuine aspirations and something to draw your imagination out of everyday mundanity. Listen to “Tranås/Stenslanda” on Soundcloud, watch the music video directed by Marcus Malmström on YouTube and follow Kite at the links provided.