Created by NY-based independent singer and songwriter Eliza Elliott, Are You Ever? is a heartfelt piece of alt-folk with a textured aesthetic. Filtered drums hit like heartbeats as Elliott quietly pours her heart out, depicting a tale of love that doesn’t quite catch.
In Are You Ever?’s chorus, Elliott sings about two people unable to love one another in quite the right way. As the main vocal sings the hook, “Are you ever gonna let her, find the right way to be close to you?”, there is a faint echo in the background, repeating the lines back. The sound evokes two individuals trying their hardest to communicate with one another, but unable to be heard over their own boundaries and barriers.
The verses hint at it, but the closing bridge makes clear that what initially sounded like a depiction of relationship disfunction from a third-party perspective is actually autobiographical. From the middle of the song’s forth-minute, Are You Ever? becomes utterly heartbreaking, Elliott singing:
“You’re not God’s favorite, but you’re mine. I think about you all the time. And all the rocks we collected — did you throw them back? “Haven’t cried for you in a month, I got so scared I used them up. And all the rocks we collected — did you throw them back?”
As processed vocals and synths build in the song’s conclusion, I found myself getting goosebumps over the naked grief Elliott manages to evoke. The feelings of loss, and fear over someone discarding monuments to love, hits hard.