Seattle artist Brian Fennell first found his way into our hearts with his band Barcelona, but he's pursued an even more introspective path with his solo project, SYML, the Welsh word for "simple."
As an adult, Fennell discovered he was adopted and traced his biological family to having Welsh roots. His work as SYML is largely an exploration of his newfound heritage and the complicated feelings that come with such knowledge.
SYML's track "Where's My Love" has received extensive airplay on KCRW and on Eclectic24 since its release in 2017. It's simply a stunning achievement, but I wasn't prepared for the gut-punch beauty of his newest song, "Meant to Stay Hid."
Here's what he said about the track: "'Meant To Stay Hid' is a personal song about loss. It’s that tangible and uncomfortable whole-body feeling that someone is gone. It’s the reality that our memory of them will fade and change. But it’s also the beautiful, yet unreasonable, hope that we will be with them again.”
Please have a quiet listen, and let this utterly magnificent rendering of loss and love wash over you.