"The lyrics are about a broken heart, a breakup and a situation where a significant other was completely unable to express or process their own feelings. I improvised the lyrics while we were playing with the instrumentals and it was written about the experiences I was having when we were writing the song." - Helena Hafsteinsdóttir, vocalist and lyricist
Icelandic indie rock band, Tragically Unknown, released their second single, “In Between” in June. The band, consisting of vocalist Helena Hafsteinsdóttir, guitarist Oddur Mar and bassist Thorgnyr Albertsson, hails from the city of Reykjavik. After garnering local praise and radio play of the band’s first single, “Villain Origin Story,” the trio set out to record a full-fledged debut album, set to be released later this year.
“We’re a group of friends,” Albertsson shared of the band’s origin. “Helena and Oddur, the singer and guitarist, already knew each other from school and I met them through my long-time girlfriend who was and still is a part of their friend group. Oddur started taking guitar seriously during the pandemic, like a lot of people, and Helena and I had been releasing music on our own so we decided to get together and do something cool.”
With a 90’s grunge-inspired bassline starting at the top of the track that lures you into the world of “In Between,” the single was written from the perspective of someone in a relationship that required much more than the narrator was capable of giving. Being in love with someone who suffers from mental afflictions such as depression, addiction or anxiety can be incredibly challenging, and requires a lot of patience and understanding.
“I was playing around with some riffs and arpeggios on my couch for a long while when I landed roughly on the guitar and bass parts that eventually made it into the song. This was shortly after we formed the band last fall,” Albertsson said. “At the time I had recently been laid off from my reporting job at a TV news station here in Iceland and was between day jobs so I had ample time to work on new material with this new band.”
After attempting to coexist with their partner’s predispositioned pain, the narrator admits defeat, for lack of a better word. Without clinging too closely to that word, “defeat,” the track seems to really be about the importance of establishing boundaries, as the narrator reluctantly comes to terms with what they are able to handle: “Never thought it would feel / Relieving / To let you go / I guess I couldn’t live like that.” There’s something powerful and admirable in acknowledging that one might not have the emotional bandwidth to withstand another’s darkness.