Desu Taem – Riding in the Heat
Desu Taem’s “Riding in the Heat” begins with warm acoustic guitar playing that creates a melancholic, ballad-like atmosphere. Although the overall energy is reduced and more in line with the vulnerable tones of acoustic “unplugged” performances from that era, there is a distinct late 1980s power ballad influence here. There is an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia in the vocal performance, bringing back memories of long drives and lost summers. The gentle and sensitive approach draws you in rather than pushing yourself to listen, which is a stylistic decision which improves the mood of the song. The song has a hypnotic, meditation-like melodic quality. The simplicity of it lies in the way it calms the listener by embracing emotion, and rhythm instead of adding layers of complication. It has a particular loneliness to it, but it’s a bittersweet loneliness that you willingly go into rather than its harsh type. It sounds like a soft dialogue between desire for the present and memories of the past.
