Premiere: Tyler Sjöström’s “Rhythm of My Mind” Is a Groovy Philosophical Indulgence

Tyler Sjöström’s driving new single “Rhythm of My Mind” pounces with an infectious pop/rock pulse as the artist explores the unexplainable gray areas of our wondrous world.

Stream: “Rhythm of My Mind” – Tyler Sjöström

When last we caught up with Chicago’s Tyler Sjöström, the folk singer/songwriter’s transition into the pop world was well underway. 2018’s lone single “I Don’t Know, You Don’t Know,” a pulsing, dark electro-pop anthem full of unrequited love’s uncertainties, already presented a seismic leap away from the folk that had so stirringly brewed within May 2017’s EP Bones, Hold Me Up. Now, it appears Sjöström’s move into the pop and electronic spectrum is complete: His driving new single “Rhythm of My Mind” pounces with an infectious pop/rock pulse as the artist explores, and ultimately accepts the unexplainable gray areas of our wondrous world.

I won’t find you in the river
Will it wash my sin away
They say you will deliver
But I’m still kneeling here to pray

For a sign a whisper
Your name in the sky
Something even a flicker
I’m here standing by

Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Rhythm of My Mind,” a moody guitar-driven pop track making peace with life’s unanswerable questions. This isn’t the first time Sjöström has wrestled with themes of truth and being, or sung about acceptance and letting things be; however, it certainly his most vivid and direct exploration of the topic, to-date.

““Rhythm of My Mind” is an introspective recollection in the realm of searching for truth,” Sjöström tells Atwood Magazine. “I grew up in a religious background where things were very quite black and white – “this is truth; this is not”. There was never much wiggle room and there also was never much evidence that “our truth” was indeed fact. With a mind that became more and more analytical and logical, I struggled with the idea of a “god”. However, following my human reasoning, I fell into life experiences I couldn’t explain with my newfound “black and white” understanding of the universe. It led me to a new nuanced understanding of the universe: I can’t explain it and I may never be able to truly do so. A view of the universe wherein I give myself permission to leave it as mysterious, wondrous, and beautiful.”

I won’t find you in the desert
Though I’ve taken peyote
I’ve climbed the highest mountain
But I haven’t seen the face

Of no deity no god I see
It eludes me still today
I’m searching for an open door
But the questions still remain

Are you written on my heart
Or am I darkened part to part
Is there something I can do
That can bring me close to you

Wet guitars slap a funky rhythm together with bass and drums as Sjöström’s deep rasp howls, cool and driven as ever. “I won’t find, I won’t find you,” he sings repeatedly, restraining emotion for effect. The resultant track is tight and unnervingly catchy – an exercise in acceptance and letting go. Most of all, however, “Rhythm of My Mind” asserts Tyler Sjöström’s lack of restraint and restriction: He will move as he pleases through genre and sound, taking on everything from lilting acoustic folk, to synths, to funky guitar jams if it gets him to where he needs to be.

“Rhythm of My Mind” is out everywhere August 23, 2019. Stream “Rhythm of My Mind” exclusively on Atwood Magazine, and learn more about Tyler Sjöström through our 2017 EP feature and previous song premieres for “Holding On” and “I Don’t Know, You Don’t Know“!

Stream: “Rhythm of My Mind” – Tyler Sjöström

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? © Megan Cody
album art © Michael Andrew Spalding

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