“I Wanted to Make Music That Sounds Like Music Again”: Louie Blue Shines a Light “In the Dark” With a Bold Sound and Breathtaking DIY Style

Finnish alternative artist Louie Blue reckons with betrayal and abuse on “In the Dark,” a brooding and brutally soulful confessional that mixes the textural guitar work of Mk.gee with an intimate ache and unapologetic DIY vision. Speaking to Atwood Magazine, he opens up about the creative risks, raw imperfections, and unfiltered emotional truths driving his upcoming third album, ‘Blood & Bones.’

for fans of Mk.gee, Dijon, Bon Iver, Genesis, The Police

Stream: “In The Dark” – Louie Blue

This is music that mirrors who I am, not who I’m supposed to be. It’s bold, honest, and alive.

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There’s a fever in Louie Blue’s smoldering new single – a restless ache that simmers in his voice, spills through his guitar, and lingers in every glistening groove.

“In the Dark” is raw and radiant, sharp and soulful; its edges glimmer with the grit of honesty and the sting of heartbreak. The track feels both fragile and unflinching, a two-and-a-half–minute reckoning with love gone sour, intimacy decayed into cruelty, and the twisted ways passion can blur into pain. As brooding as it is breathtakingly brutal, “In the Dark” is catchy, cathartic, and utterly all-consuming – a bruised-heart banger that moves the body even as it weighs heavy on the soul.

It’s Louie Blue at his boldest, turning turmoil into something we can’t help but play on repeat.

Just give me a reason
(In the dark)
Give me a reason
Why won’t you hold me
Like you used to
In the dark?

Put up a show now
I got something for you to see
(Say what?)
(What you got?)
I won’t get in line now
What is it that you want me to do?

Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “In the Dark,” the latest single off Louie Blue’s upcoming third album Blood & Bones, out September 19th via Sony & Booa Music. Following singles “Ordinary Girl,” “Toni,” “Dusty,” and “Diamond,” the song showcases a darker, more turbulent side of the 22-year-old Finnish-Swedish-Italian artist, who first broke out at 17 with his viral debut “Confused” and has since released two acclaimed albums (Notes in 2020 and DIVISION 8 in 2022). A fully DIY creation, Blood & Bones was written, recorded, produced, and mixed by Blue himself – the product of four solitary years of experimentation, reinvention, and self-discovery.

Where much of the album leans into calm reflection, spirituality, and intimate self-examination, “In the Dark” erupts as one of its most volatile moments –

– a fiery outlier born not from quiet introspection, but from cinematic inspiration. These darker themes help anchor the record’s wider palette of personal meditations in a visceral, real-world reckoning.

“The story is based on the movie I, Tonya,” Blue tells Atwood Magazine. “I felt very moved by the film, and wanted to write about the betrayal and desensitization of abuse.” That heaviness cuts right through the song’s bright, beat-driven surface. “In the Dark” plays like a groove-laden confession, its smooth exterior masking the violence and volatility at its heart. The lyrics speak of longing and loss – “Just give me a reason / why won’t you hold me like you used to in the dark,” Blue sings, his voice a hushed vessel of heartache and inner churn – but they also reveal the brutality of communication turned physical: “Throwing me against the wall, it’s the only way you know how to communicate.” It’s a chilling duality, desire entangled with damage.

Just give me a reason
Why won’t you hold me
Like you used to
In the dark
Give me a reason
Why won’t you hold me
like you used to
In the dark

Blue leans into that tension sonically as well, crafting something that’s organic and ambient, glistening and raw – what might best be called unfiltered soul. “I leaned into analog textures and a raw, organic production style,” he explains. “Everything was recorded on tape using live instruments and vintage techniques. I wanted the sound to be warm and imperfect – an antidote to today’s hyper-polished pop.”

The result is hypnotic: Shimmering riffs, a pulsing, relentless bass line, and a vocal delivery that moves like smoke, equal parts confession and catharsis.

Blue’s guitar work dazzles through a combination of riffing and sustained notes, while his voice becomes as much an instrument as it is a vessel for emotion – stretching syllables and bending melodies to wring every ounce of feeling from them. The effect is entrancing, calling to mind the bold, idiosyncratic experimentation of artists like Mk.gee, Dijon, and Bon Iver – kindred spirits in their willingness to stretch musical boundaries and blur the lines between indie, soul, and alternative.

“Rather than chasing formulas, I leaned into unpredictability and risk,” Blue adds. “This is music that mirrors who I am, not who I’m supposed to be. It’s bold, honest, and alive. I wanted to make music that sounds like music again.”

Just give me a reason
Why won’t you hold me
Like you used to
In the dark
Give me a reason
Why won’t you hold me
like you used to
In the dark

He frames “In the Dark” as a necessary outburst within the broader calm of Blood & Bones: “It’s one of those songs I needed to get out of my system. Like a beast you can’t hold within or it could affect people around you.” That urgency bleeds into every note, the track’s groove carrying an undercurrent of volatility and release.

And while the subject matter is heavy, Blue hopes listeners find a sense of strength in it: “I hope that people will have fun with it, and realise how ridiculous we can get at times. I hope it gives people an empowering sensation.”

It’s one of those songs I needed to get out of my system. Like a beast you can’t hold within or it could affect people around you.

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“In the Dark” ultimately stands as both a personal purge and an artistic statement: A song that stares into the shadows of intimacy, pulls out the contradictions, and sets them to music that is as messy, imperfect, and alive as love itself.

Blood & Bones arrives September 19th, promising a portrait of Louie Blue at his most daring and self-assured.

Until then, let “In the Dark” pull you under. Let it sting your heart, sway your ears, and seduce the senses. Let it remind you how close love can sit to cruelty, and how fragile the line between warmth and harm really is. Stream Louie Blue’s “In the Dark” exclusively on Atwood Magazine, and dive deeper into the mind behind the music in our full interview below, where he opens up about the making of Blood & Bones, the inspirations driving his songwriting, and the unfiltered vision shaping his artistry today.

Throwing me against the wall
It’s the only way
You know how to communicate
(Bring it on now)

The sound of your heart
Is stuck in the dark

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:: stream/purchase In the Dark here ::

:: connect with Louie Blue here ::

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Stream: “In The Dark” – Louie Blue

A CONVERSATION WITH LOUIE BLUE

Louie Blue: Hey there reader. This song is a part of an upcoming album that I’ve been working on for a good while now. It’s the last single of my first self-made album, and an introduction of a direction I’ve felt I’ve wanted to move towards deeply. I strive to build something unapologetic and pure out of all this and hope to develop a growing relationship with the listener through my music.

Louie Blue: The song came quick. We jammed on the riff with a good friend of mine, but it felt more like something that I needed to get off my chest rather than just casual jamming. I felt this heavy feeling of betrayal in my heart at the time and wanted to make the song as a vessel for the frustration that comes with it.

Louie Blue: The movie sort of affected me in this confirming way of how people close to you can change so drastically in an emotionally challenging setting and context, and how it shows that love often lives right next to abuse. If we’re not mindful of our hatred, things can go south quickly.

Louie Blue: It’s a portrayal of an intense, dangerous, and hurtful relationship, where one slips and shows his true colors – changing everything from there on. A longing for the warmth one gave only ‘In the dark.’ I wanted to give the song the contrast of having a groovy, upbeat production, sort of resembling this twisted enjoyment of a bad situation.

Louie Blue: There’s a lot of introspectiveness on the album. A lot of calmness and things I enjoy thinking of on a daily basis. This one sort of balances the scale in my mind. It’s harsher and snappy. I think it’s one of those songs I needed to get out of my system. Like a beast you can’t hold within or it could affect people around you.

Louie Blue: The bottom line has been having a certain set of tools to work with, and to create the song from start to finish using those. I don’t care about boxing myself in, in  terms of rhythm or structural approach, but a restricted palette has been vital in the making of the records.

Louie Blue: Firstly, this album has been very DIY approach, and I wanted for the cheaper equipment and untreated weird spaces to be a part of the sound. It’s been a solitary process, whereas the earlier albums have been made with a group of people, before I’ve had any real vision of my own to begin with. This one’s purpose was to go deeper, to find what interests me and gets my blood flowing.

Louie Blue: I hope that people will have fun with it, and realise how ridiculous we can get at times. I hope it gives people an empowering sensation. I personally feel relieved that the record is being released and now I can look back at the times with more peace.

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:: stream/purchase In the Dark here ::

:: connect with Louie Blue here ::

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Stream: “In The Dark” – Louie Blue

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