Silja Rós is an Icelandic singer-songwriter who is currently based in Los Angeles. Her single, “Stay Still”, off of the same titled new album, is a beautiful, ethereal piece that is very well produced from its spacious guitar riff to the jazzy and delicious e-piano. A nicely verbed drum section and nicely grooved bass provide the proper space for Silja Rós’ emotive vocals that sit really well in the mix, filling out the rest of the frequency range.
The love song avoids cliches and gimmicks by combining enough different stylistic genres to create its own sound. The drums are hip-hop sounding, but then the rest of the tune is very jazzy and dreamy. Silja’s voice is angelic, but she also takes an R&B/Soul approach on this song, painting a timbre that sounds fresh and original.
Aside from being a very skilled vocalist, the songwriting and lyricism is also very well crafted by Silja. The reverb applied to her voice makes her performance hauntingly gorgeous as she sings about the fading of relationships getting buried inside her to the bones. There’s a pretty melancholy that goes well with the tasteful medium to low frequency ranges of the song. It never ends up sounding too over the top either, as the whole construction of this song feels authentic. The bridge in the end before the last hook is a nice touch to the sonics of the song as we end with no drums, and the guitar serenades us with its cool tone and performance.
We’ve all wanted to just stay with someone next to us, and Silja Rós has delivered a sincere visceral experience of that sentiment with “Stay Still”. I look forward to hearing what’s next.
Written by Jon Kagan
FOLLOW SILJA RóS:
