As we approach Valentines Day the amount of sweet love songs increases ten fold. Sugar coated melodies, loved up lyrics, and an overall feeling of people trying to replicate Puppy Love by Donny Osmond. Then we have artists like Isaac Zale who tackle the reality that comes with interpersonal relationships. The highs and lows, he goes over it all in Annabelle featuring Maadrhino.

There’s a fine balancing act that happens within the piece, one side focusing on the darker side of failed and/or failing relationships, the other going for a slightly more optimistic approach about what the future might bring. Zale walks a Philippe Petit tightrope between these two realms and crosses over the caverns below with ease.

Things don’t always go smoothly and the bumpy road most relationships go down to expressed like a new divorcee with the level of emotion Zale brings to the table. He doesn’t honey-drizzle the sorrow that can come, but he doesn’t let you dwell on it, allowing you to see the slightly more uplifting side as you exit the soundscape. This is a bitter love song with a granular of sugar in the undertones, reflecting what a modern relationship now is.

“I made this song to explore the reality of interpersonal relationships – the overarching sound is supposed to evoke the dark feeling that can come with failed/failing situations. A lot of times relationship songs can feel sugar coated, almost forcibly happy, but we all know that truthfully they don’t always go smoothly and can leave people on either side feeling extremely bitter.”