Binnen exact twee weken komt het nieuwe album van Normandie uit: Dark & Beautiful Secrets. Voor we van dit nieuwe album kunnen genieten, laten de Zweedse jongens nog een laatste nummer op ons los. Deze keer is het erg persoonlijke song getiteld Hostage. Het liedje gaat over panick attacks en vechten tegen je demonen, wat zeer gevoelig ligt bij zanger Philip Strand. "When I was 22 I suffered from severe anxiety and experienced something called DP, De-Personalisation. I couldn't recognise myself in the mirror and it felt like nobody could see or hear me. It was like I didn't exist. 'Hostage' is about those experiences and is written from the perspective of what it felt like inside these panic attacks," aldus Philip.
"This video itself is about the battle we have within ourselves. It's the therapy session with the different versions of myself and linked to past videos Holy Water, Jericho, White Flag and Atmosphere. The snake represents the negative voice in our heads and has a religious reference where the snakes whispers led to the fall of Eden, the place of perfect peace and stillness."
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Philip writes with unflinching candour about everything from panic attacks (Hostage) to his fractious relationship with the internet (Atmosphere), and how the need to dig deeper into yourself can make you lose track of reality (Babylon). He writes about love and lust, and how confusing the two can lead to learning harsh lessons about your personal worth (Chemicals). He examines who he was as a child and how much his life and his values have changed in adulthood (Mission Control). Underpinning all of these personal revelations, however, is the moment his life changed forever, aged 14, when he turned his back on the church he grew up in (Holy Water, Bury Me Alive, Renegade).
Though its rooted in the private rites of passage that helped shape Philip as a person, the potency of "Dark & Beautiful Secrets" lies in that unifying thread about finding the strength and courage to make your own stand in life, and to seek out that which is true for you. It’s about being brave about the person you once were and reconciling that with who you want to be.
