The soft brass-like stabs that open Augustine’s haunting new single Fragrance provide a beautiful bedrock for the song’s floating melodies and falsetto vocals. Those brass-like bass notes remind me of the deeply sinister sounding Doorway by Planningtorock, but where that was a dark and threatening slice of electronic synth pop, Frangrance sparkles like tear-streaked glitter make-up.
Hailing from Sweden, the producer, songwriter, and musician Augustine’s music comes from a love of 70s-pop, chillwave and vintage movies. The songs he creates focus on capturing the feelings and stories that come straight from his youth.
Fragrance is about those moments where you just can’t get over someone, and they reside in your self-conscious to the point where you see them even when they aren’t there. Our memories, working against us:
“Even though you’re trying to forget and move on, your mind is so obsessed with the thought of running into that person that sometimes you even trick yourself into thinking that you’ve noticed that familiar fragrance. But of course it turns out it’s not them, it never is. As you pass through her subway station, you fantasize about getting off the train and buying her dinner. ‘What’s for tonight, pasta or pizza?’ Instead, you stay in your seat as the doors close and the train rolls on.”
Fragrance is deeply melancholic and let gorgeously emotive single. Every so often, the purest thing is loving someone who won’t love you back. Check it out below, and look out for Augustine’s debut album, due on 29 October.