In a new live session video of her song "Shake Yourself Awake», Norwegian singer/songwriter Marte Røyeng displays timeless musical storytelling on loss and human resilience.
«On this haunted beach / I leave my dreams behind»
These are the opening lines of Marte Røyeng’s modern-yet-timeless travelling song «Shake Yourself Awake», taken from her debut album "Reach" that was released earlier this year. Marte recently posted a live session video of the song, performing alongside guitarist Bendik Bergestig in an Oslo apartment. The duo carefully builds around the evocative lyrics, moving from a gentle simplicity into a striking musical exclamation.
«I was washed up on the shore / my dreams lay scattered around me / too wild to carry with me into foreign land»
The song was written through perspective of a boat refugee, who arrives on a foreign shore and takes to the road, accompanied only by the ghosts of a previous life. Yet the urge to continue forwards is stronger than the temptation of escaping backwards into past dreams. From the depths of Røyeng's sombre and poetic lyrics arises a striking hommage to the grit of the human spirit.
«So I shake myself awake / some dreams you’re meant to follow / Some the waves will break»
This fragile yet forceful performance takes us into the mind and memory of a persistent walker. Someone who is embracing the changes that has forced them to break up from all they had known, but who is determined to reach towards a new life.
Photo: Erlend Sæverud
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"Shake Yourself Awake", from Marte Røyeng's debut album "Reach" (2019).
Recorded live in Oslo, featuring Bendik Bergestig on electric guitar.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WCYG351CRQ