On the second 7-inch from Swedish synth-pop phenomenon Kite, signed to Dais in 2023, the duo Nicklas Stenemo and Christian Hutchinson Berg soar to new heights of romantic desolation and baroque grandeur.
They describe the A-side, “Losing”, as a “six-minute empty call for emotional reaction”. A stately piano and tortured voice echo in a vaulted hall before gradually building into a widescreen anthem of synthesizers, drums and soaring vocals that lament the steady death of life and love: “It’s dead quiet in your old heart / Are you there? / I see the dark sky rising / And the daylight shows no remorse / And I realize it’s my life / But it loses all meaning.”
Swedish icons of dark music, Anna von Hausswolff and Henric de la Cour, join in on the chorus as the song moves towards an ominous horizon. The B-side, “Glassy Eyes”, showcases Kite’s mastery of dark, sweeping balladry.
A soft church organ underscores Stenemo’s harrowing confession, which teeters between resilience and defeat. The band describes the song as a reckoning with “the privileged and existential fear of drifting through life apathetically”, contrasted with “the longing for deep connection with others and the desire for experiences that stir the soul before facing one’s final moments”.