We previously featured Seitz in 2023 when she wove an intricate universe with her captivating single, The Web, so when we heard that Gemany-based singer and pianist Carolin Seitz was back with Home, we were curious to say the least, and couldn’t wait to listen and share our experience.
Home opens with a subversive soundscape featuring syncopated percussion and almost industrial textures, before the track expands with a melodic trip-hop sentiment. Seitz sings, “I was alone in the room, not sure with whom I should play, watching the kids outside, I decided to hide for one more day, but darkness fell and betrayed me, now they’ve come to invade me…”
Immediately, we are obsessed with the metallic sounds and the unveiling narrative which feels vulnerable and raw. Yes, there are metaphors at play here, but the overarching construction feels like an intimate portrait of isolation and social anxiety.
The heavy and brooding melodic vocal delivery sits perfectly against the moody Rhodes piano, whilst the strange, thumping and creaking percussion gives the track an unsettling physical identity.
For some context, Home is actually a song Carolin wrote back in the 2000s. As she explains, “I can’t remember exactly what I was feeling when I wrote Home, or if there was a particular event or series of events that inspired those dark lyrics.” After rediscovering the recording in her archive, she felt it deserved to find its way into the universe. We love that. Sometimes a song can sit with us for years before we are ready to share what it really means.
The production also has a fascinating backstory. Carolin recorded the track with her music college friend, theatre composer Kostia Rapoport, in Hanover, where they found an old grand piano and deliberately “maltreated it a bit more” to capture its strangest noises. Those sounds became the foundation of the percussive arrangement. The result is wonderfully unconventional, with prepared piano textures adding a dark, almost industrial dimension. The extended outro feels super cinematic.
Carolin also shares that she has since become “quite a sociable and outgoing person”, which gives the accompanying animated video by Bristol-based filmmaker Sam Wisternoff an interesting additional layer. Although the lyrics remain in that isolated headspace, she says the video “hints at a resolution and a positive outcome” with an eventual escape onto the roof.
We can imagine Home fitting beautifully into films like Backrooms, The Machinist, Black Swan, The Babadook and Enemy, as well as the new Carrie TV series, which feels particularly zeitgeist in its exploration of isolation, bullying and the psychological pressures of growing up in today’s world. Fans of Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, Portishead and Massive Attack should totally find plenty to connect with here.
Needless to say, we are obsessed, and have added Home to our New Music Spotlight playlist, and our TRIPPY playlist, whilst we continue to stream Seitz‘s growing discography, including The Web, Words of Another Kind, and No Masquerade.