Premiere: Dot, ‘So Far Away’

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DOT
DOT

Singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist DOT can do it all herself, and while she did write and perform every note heard on new single “So Far Away,” Kate Ellwanger says she’s thinking about a bigger picture for the songs on her next, yet-to-be-titled album, due this fall on her label, Unspeakable Records. “I’ve been having a lot of fun exploring other styles of songwriting and creating music for my band to play,” she says. “I’m writing pieces with the intention of having large groups of people perform them instead of just my two hands and my computer.” Ellwanger studied composition in college, and, she adds, “I think a lot of that training is starting to inspire me again after spending the past six years getting a firm handle on digital sequencing and sound design. The idea of incorporating large orchestras with music technology is really exciting to me right now.”

The follow-up to last year’s “Retrofuture” debut, Ellwanger says her new album explores the concept of freedom, “and our many different paths or methods of trying to obtain what we already have within us. We are so free that we build cages (limitations) and lock ourselves in.”

“So Far Away” is the second song she’s shared from the record, following “Silence Is Golden.” It’s got a smooth loungy feel with a touch of psychedelia that conveys the sense of floating off into a dream-state to escape the heavy weight of reality. “The state of mind I describe in the lyrics is one of a dreamer who dissociates themselves from the physical world, both as a means to create a better future and as a way to cope with a lot of the heartbreak we’re experiencing as a society in 2018,” Ellwanger says.

“I’ve been deep-diving into a lot of the histories and root causes of socioeconomic issues we’re currently faced with, and while this work is necessary, it’s challenging to stay emotionally healthy and inspired to create a better future while holding compassion for the suffering of others. I’ve been catching myself in daydreams far more frequently than usual, so I felt inspired to put this experience into a song, since I think a lot of people can relate to this desire to separate themselves from the physical world in order to find peace.”

||| Stream: “So Far Away”

||| Also: Watch “Silence Is Golden”

||| Previously: “Gravity,” “No Filter,” “Modern Romance”