Alt-pop artist Lila Swain is a ghost disguised as a human.

 

After centuries of pondering and searching, it has finally been confirmed that ghosts do indeed exist. The proof? Lila Swain‘s voice and, more specifically, her musical direction on new single Hands.

Swain’s voice itself is well-rounded and melodious, carrying each note with a resounding strength and without every losing any sense of rhythm or harmony. This is impressive as is, but it becomes oddly haunting in the context of the ethereal instrumentation that makes Hands. While the drums are bass-heavy enough to provide some sort of bottom layer to the shifting mass of ghostly synths, the majority of the track feels like it has no physical grounding and is just floating around in the audio spectrum. It is pure melody and any sharp-sounding instrumentation is kept to a minimum.

The end result is the most haunting love song of the year.