HALIENE came into 2023 still trailing album-heat from last fall’s debut of her by-name-and-nature ‘HEAVENLY’. The first new material to follow is a collaboration that simply couldn’t have come about soon enough. HALIENE connected with LA-based producer and songwriter Elephante over Twitter, with her reaching out to share her admiration for Tim Wu’s guitar solo on last year’s ‘Love Again’. In his words, Hollow is “such a haunting and poignant song”, and upon his first listen to HALIENE’s demo he got chills and was inspired to dive in.
“Vulnerable” is how HALIENE summed up the song to Elephante. Pulling no lyrical punches, HALIENE’s stories what it takes to “allow someone in so deeply… fighting the fear that maybe it’s better to remain as a facade of stone, never revealing a single crack beneath.”
Elephante brings his wonderfully kaleidoscopic fusion of sounds and influences to its production. By turns he backs HALIENE with strummed guitar thrum, moody classical piano and wildly warped-out EQs and FX – each, in its own way, echoing the emotional arc the singer finds herself on.
A synth & bass-born salute to all those who’ve loved, lost but still managed to keep filling that ‘Hollow‘ space in their hearts, HALIENE & Elephante debut together releases today. It’s available through streaming and sales platforms here.
Elephante says: “Hollow is such a haunting and poignant song – the first time I heard the demo I got chills and was immediately inspired to dive in. I knew I wanted to make a big melodic bass thing, but with my guitar and a lot of organic sounds to fit around HALIENE’s incredible voice and performance. It threads that needle for me where I can imagine going nuts to it at a festival, but also crying – the perfect balance.”
HALIENE says: “I wrote Hollow about the process of allowing yourself to be vulnerable with another person. In this often terrifying process, we question if it’s truly safe to allow someone in so deeply…. Fighting the fear that maybe it’s better to remain as a facade of stone, never revealing a single crack beneath. The funny thing is, you can’t keep up the masquerade any longer, so the crumbling is inevitable, and yet incredibly beautiful. The chorus begs the questions, “if I show you all my flaws and vulnerabilities, would you find them beautiful? Would your own weaknesses fill in the cracks? Would you accept me as I am?” Working with Tim (Elephante) on this one was a dream come true and such an honor. His first instinct on the track was really unique and special, and musically brought the lyrics to life instantly. Every time we passed the project back and forth, I found new things I loved in his production! I’m so excited to put Hollow out into the world together.”
