Swedish artist Peter Ehrling, under his alias Me & Melancholy, returns with a soul-stirring punch in Open Your Eyes, an album soaked in minimalism, synth-laden sadness, and emotional clarity that only comes from shutting the world out and letting the inner world speak. Released on March 28, 2025, this is not music made for algorithmic approvalโitโs for those who want to feel every note like a bruise that never really healed.
The opening track, โOpen Your Eyes,โ sets the tone with its sexy, cool synthwave backbone and rumbling, low-frequency pulse. Ehrlingโs voice enters like a secret whispered from someone on the edgeโtender, rich, and aching with melancholy. This opener is a quiet rebellion against apathy and blind obedience, pleading with the listener to, quite literally, open your eyes.
Ehrling wrote much of the album between May and December 2024, and it shows in the emotional depth and lyrical sharpness of each track. Songs like โDonโt leave me here in the darkโ and โNaiveโ confront vulnerability head-onโbe it through the pain of losing someone because of your own misguided pursuit of freedom, or the bittersweet cling to idealism in a world unraveling fast.
By the time we reach track six, โA Quiet Place in the Dark,โ the album takes a sonically colder turn. Sharp electronic melodies, metallic textures, and pulsing beats create an atmosphere thatโs both danceable and devastating. The song hits like a post-betrayal monologue, caught somewhere between rage and resignation.
But itโs the closing track, โCold Down to the Bone,โ that leaves the deepest mark. With cold, clicking electronics and warm melodies slowly rising like breath on a winter window, the final song captures the emotional contradictions of a person who knows theyโre hard to love but tries anyway. The layered inclusion of a soft female voice beneath Ehrlingโs delivery gives it a ghostly presenceโlike someone still haunting him in song. Listen to Open Your Eyes on Spotify.
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Review by: Naomi Joan