Ever heard of walking barefoot through dew-drenched grass? It’s unhurried, a little uncomfortable, yet oddly refreshing— ”YELLOW WOODS” by Tobias Arbo feels a lot like that. You might expect indie-folk from a Swedish songwriter to lean on the safe side of introspection, but Tobias seems more interested in the claustrophobic throes of choosing your own destiny and the terrifying freedom it brings. A rabbit hole, but the cozy kind—if such a thing even exists.
The album lives and breathes through a subtle calmness that Zach Hanson, Linus and Hannes Hasselberg help bring to life with a delicate hand. It’s not here to shake any boots, but more like nudging toes over the line just enough to feel the thrill of a personal edge. Arbo’s delicate storytelling is less about the specifics and more about the universal suffocation we all face when sorting through life’s overload of options. Somehow, it’s existential dread in wool socks.
Arbo doesn’t write songs just to tether you to familiar moments. He’s after the big unknown, that misty middle ground between giving up and moving forward—the kind of space that doesn’t need measuring. But it’s also got a gentle way of encouraging; his music isn’t shouting at you to leap. It’s gently whispering, “Maybe it’s okay not to know.”
Depression and social isolation cast large shadows over “YELLOW WOODS”, but Arbo bends those monsters into intricate shapes, something real and pliable, almost like paper lanterns for the weary heart. This could be the soundtrack to flooring it on a nowhere highway, but it works just as well for simply sitting on the floor, wondering what next Sunday might bring.
Future classics? That’s for time to decide. But Tobias Arbo—a name to remember, a feeling you’ve already lived…multiple times.
Maybe endings are just beginnings in disguise.
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