Canadian singer-songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr. will release his debut album, titled “Goon”, on March 17th, 2015. And, he has released another song off the album, called “Without You”.
Previously, he had performed a version of “Without You” in a session, which appeared on La Blogotheque, a French-language music oriented website. But, the version that will be on the album, which you can listen to below, features Danielle Haim of Haim on drums. In addition to Danielle, Jesso Jr. worked with American Grammy Award-winning producer Ariel Rechtshaid, who has also worked with Haim, to craft the desired sound of this new song, according to Pitchfork.
“Without You” begins with a simple-but-melancholy sounding piano line, which will break into a pop-rock mid-tempo, before the end of the song, with a little help from Danielle Haim’s steady drum rhythm. Then, Jesso Jr. comes in with a heart-rending set of lyrics that contemplate the next step in a relationship where his partner is “so high above [him]”, or if there is a next step, even, with this realization. But, he considers his reaction of being “hardly able to breathe” concludes that “there is no future that I’d want to see” and that “there is nothing out there for [him]” without his partner.
Although it is styled as a lyric music video, the words do not change on screen. Instead, a white series of block letters spell out “Without You”, for the length of the entire video; so, it is actually an audio track. But, this lack of a visual narrative allows for the listener to delve into the lyrics, and create his or her own mental image to acompany Jesso Jr.’s words.
Check it out:
In collaborating with Jesso Jr., Danielle is the second Haim sister to take on a project outside of their main band, this year. Her older sister, Este, teamed up with Scarlett Johansson, Holly Miranda, Kendra Morris, Julia Hatigan, and Dave Sitek to form The Singles, a new super group that released a new song on February. And, all three of the sisters in Haim – Este, Danielle, and Alana – teamed up with Calvin Harris to take part in his video for “Pray to God”, which premiered in early February.
Lastly, be sure to mark your calendars, because Tobias Jesso Jr. will be appearing at a number of festivals this year, including: SXSW at the Spotify House parties, Barcelona’s Primavera Sound, and the Pitchfork Music Festival in July.