Track By Track: ‘Patient’ By Birkir Blær

Birkir Blær is an up-and-comer from Akureyri who made waves with his R&B debut ‘Patient’, which dropped at the end of August. Here, he goes through the album, track by track.

The album is not just a collection of songs put together in random order. It’s more of an emotional journey of a young man trying to figure out how to break out of a bad chapter in his life and find happiness.

I Want You

This is the oldest song on the album. I wrote it with my younger brother, Hreinn Orri, who is the album’s co-producer. The song builds up very slowly and the beat doesn’t kick in until halfway through because it was always intended to be the beginning of the album, and we wanted the album to sort of fade in and out. “I Want You” is less about wanting someone but more about how we often judge ourselves too harshly and feel like we don’t deserve to be wanted by someone.

Lonely

“Lonely” is simply about resenting someone for leaving you feeling lonely. When Hreinn Orri made the beat, he wanted to have a sort of vocal synth thing in the chorus, so he sang “I’m lonely,” over and over and then reversed it. I decided to keep that in the song and write the lyrics based on those two words.

Migraine

This is my favourite song on the album because it’s the most personal. “Migraine” is about depression, but it’s written from the perspective of a toxic relationship. In the song, I am confronting my own mind as if it were another person. This song is very dark and angry, which matches the darkness of the lyrics.

Take Me With You

This song is about a kind of “it’s not you, it’s me” situation. The relationship didn’t really fail and nothing really went wrong but it still ended and you’re trying to accept that. The other person just wasn’t fit for a relationship at this time in her life.

Simple

Everything looks simple and easy on the outside but no one is really simple. But what’s exciting about simple, though? Not much, if you ask me, and that’s why you don’t really fall for someone until you’ve seen their imperfections.

“This song is about a kind of ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ situation.”

Why?

“Why?” is a bit more upbeat than the others but the lyrics are still not very happy. In this song, the person feels like they’ve been taken for granted after having done everything for someone.

No. 1

This song takes a lot more inspiration from jazz and R&B. We actually made this whole
track—production and everything—in just one evening because we were so into it. It’s about being anxious about losing the one person you think is right for you.

Stranger

“Stranger” is the slowest song on the album and is mainly played on guitar. It’s just a simple song about heartbreak and wanting to lose all your memories of that person so you were never hurt in the first place.

Birkir Blær. Photo by Daníel Starrason.

Patient

The whole concept of the album is based on “Patient.” It’s about trying to break out of depression and anxiety and hoping people can be patient and not give up on you. You have to be patient with yourself as well.

Girl Next Door

As I mentioned earlier, the album is about breaking out of a bad chapter in your life and finding happiness, so the final song on the album is about finally achieving that. I wrote this song about my girlfriend but it’s not just about how much I love her but also about finally being able to call myself happy.

Check out Birkir Blær on Facebook, YouTube, and all streaming platforms.

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