Hemi Hemingway – Wings Of Desire: 13th Floor New Song Of The Day
Enigmatic Te Whanganui-a-Tara singer Hemi Hemingway returns with his brand-new single Wings of Desire out now via Stockholm-based label PNKSLM Recordings.
Here is the blurb with more:
The second release from Hemi Hemingway this year, following April’s (To Be) Without You which picked up support from BBC6 Radio, Rolling Stone ANZ and Student Radio across Aotearoa, Wings of Desire finds Hemingway at his most assured. Equal parts swagger and vulnerability, the song channels his signature mix of heartfelt lyricism and cinematic scope. With jagged guitars slicing through the 80s inspired synth melody of the intro, we are then snapped into the present through Hemingway’s commanding dulcet tones “I wanna live on the wings of desire”. It’s a strong opening line, and sets the tone for what is to come. Written in the aftermath of a turbulent emotional period, “Wings of Desire” is both catharsis and celebration, a soaring reflection on longing, fragility, and the thrill of feeling alive again.
“When I wrote Wings of Desire, after an extended period of heightened anxiety and depression, I’d grown tired of feeling unwanted, unused, unrealised,” Hemingway shares. “However self-inflicted these feelings might have been, I felt about ready to burst. I wished to relive that constant ache of early-20s longing with self-conscious uncertainty, return to that delirium of potential love, when the risk was so high that tragedy lurked around every corner. I longed for that push and pull between excitement and heartache, to be inspired by the never knowing. I just wanted to feel alive again, on the Wings of Desire.”
The track is accompanied by a playful video directed by Adam Joseph Browne that blends melancholy with absurdity. As Hemingway explains “I’m not sure why, but for some reason I always imagined the video for this song as a one-shot softball scene. I think the name Wings of Desire made me think of baseball or softball. Maybe it reminded me of Angels In the Outfield? I couldn’t tell ya, but the video starts out as a seemingly serious homage to that style of movie and quickly disintegrates into chaos. Two teams batting it out for the right to the name ‘The Snowflakes’, and I, with my devil-may-care attitude (a somewhat thin attempt at masking some childhood softball trauma), end up completely biffing it for my team, ultimately losing us the game and the right to the name. So obvious, right? Oh, and there’s also an angelic saxophone-wielding cowboy stalking about.”
About Hemi Hemingway
With the rock’n’roll panache of a dive bar matador and the emotional force of a knife in the guts, Hemi Hemingway makes music that thrills, spills and breaks hearts. The effortlessly slick New Zealand star has a connoisseur’s ear for the finest parts of musical history, sweeping 60s rock, 50s sheen and 80s romanticism into the present day, refurbishing and refashioning them into something new and fresh. At home in the spotlight, he’s a showman in the best troubadour traditions, but one with real depth, showcasing swagger and vulnerability in equal measure.
Having played around in other bands in the darker waters of the music scene for several years, Shaun Blackwell eventually took the plunge, and, with the help of a four- track recorder, launched a solo project. To do that, he stepped into the shoes of Hemi Hemingway, stage persona and Blackwell’s alter ego, the character that breathes life into the songs. Hemi introduced himself to the world with 2021’s ‘The Lonely Hunter’ EP, six songs of lush, 60s-inspired classical pop, followed by his debut album, 2023’s ‘Strangers Again’, both of which were picked up by KEXP and led to a couple of sold-out London shows at Moth Club and the Shacklewell Arms, and support slots for Kurt Vile, A. Savage (Parquet Courts), C. W. Stoneking and Night Beats. His most recent single “(To Be) Without You” was played as part of the Breakfast Blend on Radcliffe & Maconie on BBC Radio 6 Music, blending into “The Sun Always Shines on TV” by A-ha.
Follow Hemi Hemingway
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