Ontario’s emmersonHALL turns bitterness into art on new single “Air,” capturing the fleeting, but potent weight of anger and disappointment in the post-breakup fog.
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Stream: “Air” – emmersonHALL
There’s something haunting about the way resentment lingers; how it seeps into the corners of our minds, surfacing in the quiet moments we wish we could let go.
“I bleed so you’re winning on every hand played,” emmersonHALL laments on “Air,” a song that turns bitterness into art – capturing the fleeting, but potent weight of anger and disappointment in the post-breakup fog. “I just can’t stand to be the places we’ve laid.” An emotional upheaval and a cathartic exhale all in one, it’s a “Air” is a momentary descent into darkness – a soundtrack for the the times we find ourselves stuck between knowing better and feeling worse, when someone we once held close becomes little more than a shadow in our thoughts.
I bleed so you’re winning
On every hand played
I just can’t stand to be
The places we’ve laid
Close my eyes when i kiss her
imagining you
But she deserves better than that
and I do too
Released on Valentine’s Day 2025 via Club Records, “Air” is an achingly intimate burst of raw, visceral emotion. emmersonHALL’s first release of the year arrive in the wake of their 2023 self-titled debut album, which Atwood Magazine previously praised as a “tender, intimate, and expansive introduction that shines with a radiant warm inner light and alt-folk charm.”
Still relatively new to the music scene, emmersonHALL is the moniker for Ottawa, Ontario singer/songwriter and instrumentalist Cole Hallman, who debuted in late 2022 with the four-track EP, Ography. They worked with Michael Watson (Chemical Club, Preloved) to produce their first album, pulling a smattering of moments (both musical and anecdotal) together alongside influences like Wilco, The Microphones, and Wednesday. The result, as we wrote last year, is a record of “deeply visceral, delicate, and moving indie rock and alt-folk music that hits where it.”
“Air” feels brighter, less compressed, and less ‘produced’ than the album that preceded it; Hallman’s tender voice is up-close and personal, like they’re singing right into our ears, and their guitar strums – especially in the verses – feel weightless and free. But beneath that lightness lies a quiet storm, a moment of raw vulnerability wrapped in fragile melodies.
I waste all my money
On food I can’t keep
Pull it all out and
Push it away from me
It’s none of your business
How I’ve held up
“‘Air’ is a bitter song written for the feeling of anger and disappointment you can feel in someone that doesn’t deserve it; someone you know owes you nothing,” Hallman tells Atwood Magazine. “I tried to capture a fleeting dark moment in a life otherwise joyful, like a preserved butterfly.”
“The instrumental inspiration is equally drawn from My Bloody Valentine and Songs: Ohia, where stripped back acoustic verses meet blown out shoegaze choruses. This staunch contrast is reminiscent of The Pixies or Nirvana, which are more of my favourite artists. Though one of the less bass-centric emmersonHALL songs, the instrument still plays an integral role towards the end of the song.”
I hope he’s gentle
Does he feel like me?
Air it out baby
Air it out baby
With its stark contrasts and unfiltered emotion, Air feels like a deep breath – an unburdening of feelings too heavy to hold in.
emmersonHALL captures the ache of unresolved resentment with striking clarity, their voice intimate and raw against the song’s shifting sonic landscape. From the weightless verses to the blown-out choruses, “Air” mirrors the turbulence of its subject matter: Fleeting yet forceful, delicate yet devastating.
It’s a song that lingers long after its final notes fade – like a ghost of a feeling we thought we’d already let go.
Stream “Air” wherever you listen to music, and stay tuned for more to come as emmersonHALL continues to release new music throughout the coming year!
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