Drawing us in with descending tom riffs and cosmic percussive nuances, LOOSE opens Whispering with breathy vocalizations of the title of the track and intrigue. The opus expands into an immersive prog rock energy with a conscious and thought-provoking narrative.
We immediately connect with the hook, “I’m whispering so the neighbours will not hear…” which is actually much deeper than it seems on the surface. We love the trippy and psychedelic production which reminds us of early William Orbit fused with a more Brit-rock energy akin to bands like Space. The synth solo moment is sublime and leads through a stripped back minimalist moment with cerebral percussion and spoken word turning point where LOOSE decides to raise his voice, speak up and make sure that the world can hear about it. It’s art as activism.
Speaking on his message, LOOSE says, “We are controlled, watched and listened to by evil forces via smart TVs, laptops, mobile phones, cameras and so on. Ironically, you can’t speak out loud anything freely because the walls around you can have spying ears.”
Lyrically, Whispering explores surveillance, control and the erosion of privacy in the digital age. It is highly zeitgeist in many ways. LOOSE questions whether these familiar devices have become something much more sinister. Fans of The KLF, Radiohead and The Beta Band would also be able to vibe with the track.
We can imagine Whispering landing a sync deal in films such as The Conversation, Enemy of the State, They Live, The Truman Show, V for Vendetta and A Scanner Darkly. On television, it could sit comfortably alongside Black Mirror, Mr. Robot, Person of Interest, Severance and Devs.
For some context, LOOSE is the solo project of London-based multi-instrumentalist Norbert Szabo. He writes, performs and records every instrument himself before adding the lead and backing vocals. He also takes care of the mixing and mastering, working independently from his own home studio.
Needless to say, we are obsessed with the message and the sentiment of the track, and have added Whispering to our New Music Spotlight playlist and our TIMELESS playlist, whilst we continue to stream the wider discography of LOOSE, including Turbulence, Give Me a Sign, and Goosebumps.