Luka – Waiting

I recently learned the word hypnogogia, which describes the transitional state between wakefulness and sleeping. It is not to be confused with hypnopompia, which is the transitional state between sleep and consciousness. If that sounds like a narrow distinction, think of it as the difference between falling asleep drunk and waking up hungover and still in your contact lenses. There’s a whole genre of music – Hypnogogic Pop – that aims to replicate this woozy sense of drifting off, and on Waiting, Luka sings us to sleep.

Waiting is a slow-motion waltz that finds Luka alone and calling into the night for a lost love. Rickety but insistent drums rattle through the song as major chords melt into minors with cinematic grace. The inclusion of an orchestral synth sound is an unusual choice, but one which stops just short of overbalancing the track. Artificial strings are often used as a too-easy shortcut to pathos in pop songwriting, but here they are used tastefully and appear strangely muted. Waiting could easily have arrived bloated and burdened with faux-dramatic production choices, but Luka keeps the mix concise. The vocal harmonies on the hook are simple but absolutely airtight, and for all Waiting’s nocturnal affectations, it’s a remarkably focused and confident-sounding track.

The song’s verses unfurl with Luka’s delightfully lethargic vocal melodies, backed up with twinkly guitar arpeggios and a thick blanket of bass. The effect lands somewhere between You Are My Sunshine and Brahms’ Wiegenlied, and It’s strangely appropriate that Luka’s most yearning lyric implores us to ‘come to [our] senses.’ Both You Are My Sunshine and the Wiegenlied are profoundly sad songs of lost love in their own ways, and it feels right to meet Luka in that company. Waiting isn’t a song that cries itself to sleep, but it’s a close call.

Christopher R. Moore