Human Hollow – Playing Dead

‘I'm Playing Dead’ – Human Hollow deliver a dark blow of liberation

This song grabbed me right away – Playing Dead by Human Hollow is one of those tracks that defies categorisation and sticks in your head for that very reason.

What caught me first was the almost ghostly, quiet intro with the shimmering, bright vocals – almost eerily ethereal, yet so clear and direct. The contrast to the hard, metallic beat that gradually pushes its way into the centre is brutally good. I often feel that many synthpop or darkwave tracks get stuck in a certain standard sound – but this beat sounds really fresh to me without denying the scene. It's not typical run-of-the-mill synthpop, but it's not breakneck industrial either. It comes across as unique, bold and yet somehow familiar.

What makes Playing Dead special for me is the steady build-up – pressure and tension build up constantly, almost like a claustrophobic spiral. The synthetic sounds are crisply produced. I also find the way the vocals work against the industrial wall of sound particularly powerful.

Lyrically, I find the song quite intense. Lines like "I'm playing dead / a dream that's in my head" strike me as an inner swan song to reality. The song feels like the soundtrack to a dissociative survival strategy – dark, poetic, honest.