Last updated: 3 days ago
When the drums hit at the end of “Fault Lines,” they hit hard enough to shake the Earth to its fractured foundation. Minneapolis singer/songwriter Emerson Freybler, who records devastated piano pop under the name Emerson Island, wrote the song in 2022. After releasing an understated live version in 2023, he teamed up with St. Paul ambient electronic producer Lowjam to elevate the song with a fully-realized soundscape worthy of its environmental metaphor.
“The intent was to write a song that captured how our relationship to our planet mimics our relationships with each other,” says Freybler. In the lyrics of “Fault Lines,” he draws parallels between a broken emotional bond and the changing climate: “You can play pretend / say it’s not the end / but it won’t save us.”
Freybler’s high, anxious keyboard runs already imbued “Fault Lines” with cinematic tension, but he says Lowjam’s contributions—the strings, the percussion, the fragments of digital noise—”brought it to life.” The two artists first connected over a shared love of grandiose alternative rock from the turn of the millennium (Radiohead, Coldplay, and the like), which they poured into the song’s ending buildup. “It’s 100 degrees in May,” Freybler sings. Then, as layer after layer of backup vocals and huge, echoing drums enter, Lowjam turns the heat higher.
“Fault Lines” finds Freybler at the pinnacle of the piano-driven sound he first explored on Emerson Island’s 2022 EP All or Nothing.
“The intent was to write a song that captured how our relationship to our planet mimics our relationships with each other,” says Freybler. In the lyrics of “Fault Lines,” he draws parallels between a broken emotional bond and the changing climate: “You can play pretend / say it’s not the end / but it won’t save us.”
Freybler’s high, anxious keyboard runs already imbued “Fault Lines” with cinematic tension, but he says Lowjam’s contributions—the strings, the percussion, the fragments of digital noise—”brought it to life.” The two artists first connected over a shared love of grandiose alternative rock from the turn of the millennium (Radiohead, Coldplay, and the like), which they poured into the song’s ending buildup. “It’s 100 degrees in May,” Freybler sings. Then, as layer after layer of backup vocals and huge, echoing drums enter, Lowjam turns the heat higher.
“Fault Lines” finds Freybler at the pinnacle of the piano-driven sound he first explored on Emerson Island’s 2022 EP All or Nothing.
Monthly Listeners
114
Monthly Listeners History
Track the evolution of monthly listeners over the last 28 days.
Followers
204
Followers History
Track the evolution of followers over the last 28 days.
Top Cities
Related Artists
The Fabulous Boring Brothers
Ethan Whitney
James Heitz
Henry Loukes
Randler
Ti Vonne
Ben Yusuf Quinn
Jack Scarsi
AJ JAMES
El Sam
Brendan The Navigator
Gunter
Osso
JØRDYN
M.A.Y
Spoar Secrets
MICKEY B
Drugs on Sunday
SONISTIC
MINA
Cameron Coiro
Creekmore
Skylar Harris
Flawed Hearts and the Waiting Room
Maru Haru
Axel Kyllo
Imme Niamh
kyle christian
