“Over You / Over Me,” the newest release from German singer-songwriter M. Byrd, is a track that abandons traditional song structure. Opting for two verses with the lines, “Over you and over me / some things never change,” the parts are tacked on after just enough separation to be a distinctive chorus. Byrd’s vocals are spacey and subdued, and he stays within a two or three-note range throughout the track.
Surrounding his vocals is an instrumental that grows with vibrancy and color from the start. Twinkling synths and strings, commanding drum patterns, and classic arena rock-style guitar riffs come together to create the trance-like aura of the track, acting as a vacuum, or a portal, to another world. However, just when it begins to sink its teeth into the listener, it’s over: no over-embellishment, only a song that does what it needs to do and concludes in what feels like an instant.
The opening line, “I’ve been dreaming of a dozen snakes in my bedroom,” is, according to Byrd, literal, but quite profound. The snakes, he says, represent inevitable changes in life that he has been repressing instead of embracing. He references a quote by Freud, which led him to perceive these visions more distinctly: “A dream is the liberation of the spirit from the pressure of external nature, a detachment from the soul of the restraints of matter.” Inspired by storytellers such as Tom Petty and Elliott Smith, the young songwriter has already tapped into a kind of psyche far beyond his years, and has showcased his ability to physically portray it in his music.
Watch the lyric video for “Over You / Over Me” below.
“Over You / Over Me” is out now on all major streaming platforms.
