Iceboy Violet & Nueen – You Said You'd Hold My Hand Through the Fire
You Said You'd Hold My Hand Through the Fire is a gorgeous reflection of a relationship’s journey
This evocative collaboration between producer Nueen and rapper Iceboy Violet is a condensed epic of a four-year relationship that holds and straddles effect and genre in powerful measure. Nueen’s understated drill elements bring a benevolent, tense space that Iceboy Violet has complemented with their lyrical expanse. The shifting between their idiosyncratic vocoders, autotune, and their raw, reflective croak that edges on a croon is all set to Nueen’s dynamic tracks that shimmer in and out of dominance and highlight the producer's abilities on this cross-genre journey.
Lyrically, there’s unassuming images of bodily and natural effect, with Pixel Petals and Cement Skin invoking swirling emotional landscapes set to Nueen’s shimmering ambience and beats. The R'n'B choral shocks in Closer tease a chorus that never arrives. In Everything Ends With An Inhale, lyrics reflect back objects of a relationship in a 'baroque pearl necklace'. In Cement Skin the refrain 'Why’s it so hard to leave?' echoes over Nueen’s more melodic tendencies. Fragmentary (Eraser) uses Iceboy Violet’s range of impassioned registers to brilliant effect, detailing the apex of the collaboration's efforts in genre switches and codes. You Said You'd Hold My Hand... is a gorgeous reflection of a relationship’s journey.
Listen to: Fragmentary (Eraser), Still, 6am in Helsinki (Kiss Me Again)