Do I see? Do I hear? 0000
“In these mental times I made a song about mental health,” says Mørk of his latest single, “The Rescue.” The artist’s words are dark, but they paint an appropriate picture for a song where the lines are blurred between technology and reality, life and ____. It’s a world we all know very well, and it’s only moving in one direction…
If there’s anyone in there
Please make a sound
We only need a little one
To know you’re ok
If you run around in circles
We’ll just wait a while
Before we bring the bed again
And make you alright
Listen: “The Rescue” – Mørk
[youtube=https://youtu.be/Xx1-9ugmtYI?t=0s]Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “The Rescue,” the latest single from from Norwegian-based electronic producer Mørk. After releasing his debut EP Disco in Odd Times in 2016, Mørk has continued to explore the nether reaches of electronic music, melding it with pop stylings to cultivate a style that is uniquely his own.
“I read this report that came out, on the use of physical force and restraint in the mental health services in Tromsø, my hometown,” recalls Mørk. “Reading that report inspired the lyrics of the song, which is set in a future where the job of the nurses in the psych-wards are done by nurse-robots. It’s the nurse robot singing in the verses and the patient X responding in the choruses. All in the form of an iMessage-conversation-lyric video.”
Do I see
Do I feel
0000
Do I hear
“Do I see?” asks patient X. “Do I feel?” Cold synths sync their hypnotic pulse to electronic, computerized vocals as uncertainty becomes the only reality we know. Once upon a time, this song might go under the category of “progressive rock,” which was the label lent to musically forward-thinking artistries in the ’70s and ’80s (ex. Styx, Queen) that toyed with these futurism concepts and sci-fi ideas. Mørk inevitably creates a new world in “The Rescue,” but this is not some dystopian fan fiction; in fact, the world he depicts, represented in the lyric video through a series of text messages and nothing more, doesn’t feel too far off from our present.
One recalls the latest season (20) of South Park, where two characters find themselves isolated from social media, and thereby disconnected from the world. The satire could not be more pointed, nor more poignant: This is our reality, a blend of digital identities consuming our physical identity: A Facebook profile, an Instagram page. Our bodies are still decaying – we are not immortal – but one has to wonder, how far gone is our humanity? Can we pull ourselves out of this era of dehumanization?
We are following procedure
Won’t you please calm down
And don’t go tell your friend again
She won’t be around
“The Rescue” doesn’t quite sound like a rescue at all; it sounds like a transformation, a reconfiguration of the soul in order for it to adapt to the new age. Melancholic as its theme may be, Mørk’s new song is utterly captivating, forcing us to reconsider who we are and how we relate to the world around us.
Are we human? Or are we iPhone?
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