SKOFEE FEELS THE PRESENCE OF ABSENCE ON "FANTOMLIMB"

LA's Skofee feels the acute absence of someone like a lost limb on "Fantomlimb"

Being Human is weird. By and large, we are animals, which has been way too obvious and apparent these last few years, as we descend into blind frothing tribalism, when base desires seem to be the bottomline for a good portion of the population. Spend any amount of time on any popular social media platform and chimpanzees might seem civilized and restrained, in comparison. And yet, we are not only animals. Our oversized brains produce all kinds of anomalies that place us somewhere between the Animal Kingdom and some sort of grey alien or divinity.

The mind makes things all kinds of strange. Consider the idea of absence, nullity, void. How can nothing be something. You won't find absence in nature, which abhors a vacuum, as the saying goes. Absence, in its very nature, is an abstraction. It's a thought construct. Even the zero, that mathematical wonder, signifies something not there. In ancient Mesopotamia, the familiar 0-shape signified a stone no longer there, leaving a ring-shaped outline in the dirt. Experiencing absence requires memory, one of the main things that separates us from the natural world. It's as much of a curse as a blessing.

All of this is explored eloquently, over a sugary sweet synthpop slowburner, by LA's Skofee on "Fantomlimb." It tells the story of a complicated, shifting relationship, where Skofee uses the metaphor of feeling pain in a limb no longer there to explore the slow devolution of a relationship, when the thrill is gone, when the fireworks have quieted, and all the cracks begin to show.

SKOFEE - “FANTOMLIMB”

Skofee manages to capture both the bitter and the sweet, with synthetic strings and flickering guitars becoming a lush garden over which Skofee's frankly-just-beautiful vocals soar like a sunset. Like the zero itself, part of what makes "Fantomlimb" so exceptional is what's not there, what is hidden and implied rather than what's right in front of your face. It's in the rolling peaks and ploughs of Skofee's delicate soprano - hope, memory, resignation. It's enough to give you shivers, to bring tears to your eyes.

"Fantomlimb" is the first single off of Skofee's forthcoming new EP, due out on September 21. If this is any indication of the quality, heart, and emotion in store, We Are: The Guard couldn't be more excited for the fall to get here! 

J. Simpson occupies the intersection between criticism, creativity, and academia. Based out of Portland, Or., he is the author of Forestpunk, an online journal/brand studying the traces of horror, supernatural, and the occult through music, fashion and culture. He plays in the dreamfolk band Meta-Pinnacle with his partner Lily H. Valentine, with whom he also co-founded Bitstar Productions, a visual arts collective focused on elevating Pop Culture to High Art.