Expectations, Reality & Rhetorical questions with Milan Ring

Shot by Alexander Bortz // Make Up by Sara Tagaloa

Sydney based soulstress Milan Ring, a previous hit with us here at The Pit London as one of our midnight cruise artists on Reprezent with her previous single "2063", celebrates a brand new release "Obscured"

Obscured is a song all about disconnection and expectations. And despite me jumping the gun and reading all about it before listening. I want you guys to take a different approach and have a listen now - I'll wait.

Ok, done? Here we go. How did it make you feel? What did it make you think of? Could you relate?

Without the backstory, one wonders how the average listener would apply this to an emotion or situation. Expectations are a common occurrence in everything from love to work. But here's what its really about. Milan says “This song is dedicated to my father & grandmother and all people who have experienced any kind of disconnection, abandonment, or displacement in their lives”. A truly interesting dilemma and an amazing array of feelings to explore when writing. She continues to set a picture of the circumstances in which she wrote the hit.

“My father grew up without his mother, by the sea in a little fishing village in Hong Kong. Left in the care of his father who was a troubled alcoholic. Decades later, after moving to Australia and as an adult, my father found his mother. At the age of 3, I travelled with him to San Francisco for their reintroduction. “OBSCURED” speaks of that journey from shore to shore, from a lifetime of disconnection to new beginnings”

Is that what you expected? Listen again. How does it make you feel this time around?

Knowing the whole story feels like a really important part of this song and its message. You know sometimes when you watch a music video and its nothing like how you imagined? And it puts the whole song into a totally different perspective for you? This whole story really speaks to me on a sympathetic level. I haven't ever experienced something like this, and I can't imagine such a drastic story is very common at all. But Milan truly shows us her understanding and emotional intelligence with regards it. Making it not only applicable to all remotely similar situations but also stunningly relatable, despite our majority held inexperience in the matter.

I'm sure her grandmother and father are hella proud of this.

Regardless of my moral contemplation and over emotional reaction to the meaning. The soft and laidback sounds of the vocals with Hendrix style guitar make for a kind of RnB/Rock crossover that works really well. Creating descriptive imagery through lyrics and connecting the audience with the rhetorical question "Where do we go from here?", the choir-like backing harmonies and soft seamless beat make for really easy listening.

Check out this bonus material of Milan killing her Loops Live Session earlier this year.