Kyle Chatham, a Scottish singer-songwriter, delivers an ethereal and gripping song with his new single “Once More Round Your Heart.” Stripped back and ambient instrumentation, driven by a steady beat, supports Chatham’s emotional vocals. These vocals easily draw you into the beautiful narrative of “Once More Round Your Heart,” a song about when a relationship is struggling because your partner is struggling- and you just don’t know how to fix it.
“Your love’s like a decoration hanging from my ceiling.” Your love is decoration without true substance. Maybe this lover is going through the motions, or putting on love for show, but the vulnerability is missing. We can always tell when someone we love seems off, and Chatham’s song replicates the emotions of trying to get them back to us and back to themselves.
Chatham asks “don’t you see your faith inside the same light as mine?” He feels so deeply connected to this person, and doesn’t understand why the faith he feels in both their relationship and themselves as individuals isn’t mutual. He is left wondering “why [he] ever tried to find a way for [them].” If this person is giving up now, Chatham’s efforts to save the relationship feel pointless. Nonetheless, he still wonders “is there a way for us to reunite?” Despite the hardships they’ve faced, Chatham doesn’t want to give up hope, offering grace and reconciliation to his love.
Moving through this song, you can hear Chatham’s desperation increase. Vocal harmonies are added in, instrumentation builds, and the tension peaks in quite an emotional way. The song closes out with guttural, pleading lines about the fear of losing this person- his “only one.”
Written by Emily Cushing
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