Me & Melancholy, a solo music project by musician and producer Peter Ehrling. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, the self-taught artist primarily plays with electronic music to explore sombre and melancholic themes. He is self-admittedly influenced synthpop and new wave bands from the 80s and 90s and finds the endless possibilities of electronic music production exciting. “The Chosen Few” is the second to last track on his latest album “Illusio Veri”.

Electronic music production is largely used to explore the boundaries of energy and the assumption is usually a sense of vigour. But I enjoy the use of the form to explore more heartfelt and sombre themes as Me & Melancholy does on “The Chosen Few”. The synth has an old-school, robotic tone to it while the percussion leans more towards Up-beat EDM without ever coming off as overpowering. Peter Ehrling’s vocals are filled with emotion and the use of echo on it is done effectively.

Although the track has a chill sonic ambience, lyrically it dives into darker regions. The songwriting starts off with a sense of defeat; of having explored all possible avenues and not having seen results. The writing has restraint, is minimal and makes its presence known between large sections of instrumentation. As the title “The Chosen Few” suggests, a sense of unfairness prevails while the cover art presents winter, cold and isolation graphically.

All tracks acquire a different meaning when listened to in the context of an album. I would recommend checking out “The Chosen Few” by Me & Melancholy along with its latest album “Illusio Veri” here: