Surinamese-Dutch folk vocalist and songwriter néomí continues her powerfully emotive releases with the new single “red balloon”. A foundation laid with icy vocal tones, néomí layers tender guitar tones and steady drum beats to create a backdrop of percussive bliss.
When listening to néomí, it’s so easy to be swept up into her beautiful voice and storytelling that you lose all sense of time. And with “red balloon” it’s no different. Yet this track feels like it’s a friendly shoulder to lean on, like stabilisers on a bicycle, it’s a comfort and reminder that support is right behind you whenever you need it. Sweeping piano embellishments throughout the single, néomí’s heart tells the tale of needing to move on whilst also wanting everything to stay the same. It’s a moment of heartache and healing, a conflict of the two, whilst enabling néomí’s emotions to stream out of her soul.
“The song is about knowing you love someone very much, knowing you want to be with someone still, knowing it doesn’t work out the way you want to, knowing that it might be over soon, trying to hold on, trying to let go, losing yourself and for that reason hoping that one day you can cope with the fact you let that one person go and feel gracious again without them,” néomí tells us.
An artist who thrives in folkier sounds, néomí is unlike any other. With strengths lying in her ability to capture emotions so effortlessly yet so thoroughly continues to prove that she is an artist worth taking note of.
