Siv Jakobsen is a woman who isn’t afraid to open up her heart when creating music, and her latest EP, “The Lingering” is not only brilliant, it’s an emotional rollercoaster.
Opening tracks “Dark” and “How We Used To Love” are honest, introspective songs with swelling strings and Siv’s gorgeous and emotive voice tugging the listener’s heart in all the right places. If we were younger, we’d be inclined to write that Siv’s lyrics give us “all the feels.” But we’re not. So we won’t.
There’s an overarching theme to the EP, which is further explored in “Fix You”—while it’s always wrong to assume, one can only come to the conclusion that Siv has come out of an extremely painful relationship and used the negative experience to create an outstanding collection of songs that, while extremely dark in places, can also be uplifting, even empowering.
One of the outstanding moments on the EP is Siv’s reinterpretation of Britney Spears’ “Toxic,” which transforms the dance-floor behemoth into a sweeping confessional, complete with the intense strings. “Buried In Treasure” is much more light-hearted, focusing on the day to day observations of a house cat, yet it still retains an element of sadness—which is hardly surprising as Siv’s voice has such a tender, and broken quality, she could make the reading of a dictionary hit you right in the chest.
“Caroline” is a track which we’d very much like to sit down with the singer and talk about. While we think it’s a portrayal of living as transgender woman, we get the feeling that there’s a deeper story at work. Is this a friend of hers, or hypothetical? While it’s not important to know, it did leave us asking questions.
“Bullet” takes the listener by the hand and instead of gently easing them out of the EP, lets Siv’s voice consume them. There is extreme talent on display on this release, and we’d be very interested to hear Siv’s take on a full length album.
“The Lingering” EP is released via The Nordic Mellow Records. Keep up to date with Siv Jakobsen via Twitter.
