After a few years dormant – as he raised his young family – independent singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Jacob Rohde returns with the beautifully fragile single, 'Pretender'.
Achingly raw indie folk tones intro the piece with Jacob's husky yet suave vocals drizzling an extra serving of emotion on top of a track already soaked in sentimental vibes.As the track progresses, the feeling of bruised passion ebbs and flows as Rohde laments the changing tide of the protagonist's personality: "I used to be kinda funny / You used to laugh at things I say / I didn't mean to hurt you honey / I'm sorry I guess things just change."
A completely DIY job where Jacob wrote, performed, recorded, mixed and mastered the entire track, he plans to release a number of other singles throughout 2023, with an EP to drop before the end of the year.
"It had been a while since I'd been able to find time and creative inspiration to write and record and complete a project," begins Jacob, detailing his return to songwriting.
"I had put music on the back burner for a couple years while raising my two young daughters and was feeling pretty sh.t about letting my passion slip away for so long.
"I think the catalyst for re-discovery of my love for music was a trip to Tasmania where we just kinda road tripped for a couple of weeks with no real direction."
Ahead of the song's release (26 March), scenestr is thrilled to premiere 'Pretender' today. Enjoy.
The single's artwork was also captured during the same Tasmanian roadtrip. "The artwork for the song was taken by my partner during this trip; she captured it on a gloomy cold day with an old 35mm film camera while we drove down some desolate dirt road.
"I think it was this trip that free'd something up in my head. I got back and locked myself in my studio and while playing back snippets of recordings and half-finished songs I found the guitar track, looped it and instantly started writing and layering sounds on top. The end result was this song 'Pretender'."
