A mind can be an unknowable place, full of nothing and everything, fleeting and permanent. Somehow, Lisa Remar captures this so vividly.
hi… is the newly released EP by the Japanese-American artist, which follows the 2021 EP, Still Good. Remar’s soft and mellow voice returns, but this time she sings of the multi-faceted concept of loss.
Remar opens with “sometimes…”, setting the tone for the rest of the album with the warm echoes of her guitar and dreamy harmonies reminiscent of Iron & Wine and The Japanese House. Throughout the EP, Remar questions herself and the relationships around her. In “was there more…”, she breathes, “I wonder what it’s like to start over.” Remar lends us insight to a relationship lost in communication with “hi…”. But perhaps the most poignant illustration of a lost soul is through “Lankersham”, the first single off the EP.
“I felt seriously stuck, sidetracked from my purpose,” she says, “My reality had become so skewed and I’d grown into someone I wasn’t really proud of at all.”
With just a soulful riff and Remar’s soft and breathy voice, “Lankersham” tells the story of a chase with duality–a forceful push out of a place that doesn’t belong to you, and a pull to it because you want to belong. With raw lyrics like “it still stings a bit, the weight of you” and “I need you whole, so don’t provoke me,” Remar touches on the reality of a draining relationship, or in this case a tumultuous relationship with fame.
Watch the official music video for “Lankersham” below.
“My focus had insidiously shifted into staying fame adjacent. It all ended quite abruptly, and I was completely drained over trying so desperately hard to seem like I wasn’t trying hard at all,” shares Remar, “The song is about being unexpectedly plucked into the lives of others just to be discarded like fast fashion or a happy meal toy.”
hi… is laced with loneliness and existential questioning. Interestingly enough, all songs are followed by ellipses, as if leaving the thoughts incomplete. Remar tells us that she has more left to say, and we can’t wait to hear what’s next.
Stream Lisa Remar’s EP hi… now on Spotify and Apple Music.
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