Sandi Glowe Shares Her Debut EP, “Power Weakness”

Allow me to introduce to you 23-year-old Italian indie-pop artist, Sandie Glowe. Releasing her first EP “Power Weakness” is an intriguing declaration to her music career, as it discusses the polarities of the ideals that both social media and politicians bring, and serves as a call to embrace the grey areas. Lo-fi instrumentation dubbed with deep bass undertones throughout the EP compliment the juxtaposition of her sweet accent and lovely guitar and piano melodies. Her vocal styling reflects the likes of a toned-down Bjork, bringing an edgy dark pop sound to life in her songs that offer an invitation to take a moment to reflect.

The “Powerful Weakness” EP is best listened to from top to finish, treating it as though it were like a vinyl record, which its lo-fi aesthetics make simple to imagine.

Its intro track, Never Be Here, begins with an an echoey a capella canon reciting, “All my power is all my weakness, all the eyes staring at my sense of weakness.” This layered vocal styling resembles a chanting choir, which holds the background as synthy bass and piano tunes come in. Sandi adds in with her main vocals, soft and alluring. Tension builds in the track as sharp strings grow louder and more powerful, eventually coming to a screeching halt.

The sentence “I’ll never be here” refers to our struggle to live the moment, and “they’re caged by self hate, they cannot leave, they built a cage for me, but now I have the door’s key” refers to how other people’s self hatred can affect us so much to make us feel trapped in their hate and feel like it’s our own, but also how I realized that I can find my true self again by leaving other’s people unhappiness behind.

Sandi Glowe

This abrupt end leads straight into the second track, the vow. A tinny-sounded drum beat and percussive samples rock the composition behind Sandi‘s vocals. Vibey guitar licks and synth chords pick up in the second verse, and then it cuts to staticky vinyl sound, offering a reprieve of a vocal and guitar duo in the middle. Once again the track picks back up with a return to the chorus, where powerful strings chords that emanate deep emotion build until the end and eventually fade out. the vow is written from the perspective of someone who is a victim of anxiety and feels as though every detail and thought is a haunting reality. The song offers some moments of clarity, like a break from a feverish dream.

AROUND US begins with a soft intro that bleeds in a pop-rock’n’roll riff on electric guitar with minimal clapping beats that eventually build even more into a full production of reverb dreaminess. Glowe shared with us that this song is about the rediscovery of stepping out of our own mind and realizing that there is so much beauty all around. “Sometimes we are so busy being scared by our own thoughts that we are blind to it.”

what else is there is a short interlude where Sandi takes a moment to verbalize some of the concepts within the EP. Over an entrancing track, you’ll hear her basically whispering, “We constantly need to deal with the fact that our perception is limited. So cold, reality has much more nuances than our perception wants us to see. We tend to categorize emotions, what else is there, and put them in boxes.”

Corner of Heaven changes tempo throughout between the versus and chorus, which adds an exciting element that keeps its listeners on their toes. Stripped guitar melodies, synth piano notes, and grungy sounding bass undertones make for a strong ending to the EP.

Corner of Heaven is a summary of all these concepts. The opening line “I thought I saw a plum on that tree, it was the tears of a flower like petals on the windowsill” introduces the idea of how our perception can trick us into seeing things that are not there, into seeing things that we would like to see. The line “the gold detector in the driest desert, I turned it off and I started breathing” is a reference to the false sense of happiness that a materialistic society brings. I wanted the outro to sound as if I was trying to escape a computer but end up falling into it again.”

Sandie Glowe

I am so impressed with the artistry and introspective commentary Sandi Glowe showcases and shares on her first musical project, “Power Weakness.” She has left quite a first impression on me, and I am eager to hear more from her in the future.