'Qadir' by Nick Hakim
Produced: Andrew Sarlo and Nick Hakim
Album: WILL THIS MAKE ME GOOD
‘Qadir’, named after Nick Hakim’s late friend, is a beautiful song about grief and social change. Nick mixes dissonant vocals with delicate keys to create a sound that is both mournful and yet hopeful. The song begins with a short, solo percussive intro. This conga drum motif plays hide and seek in the song’s crescendo, where listeners are drowned in gorgeous, opulent backing vocals and lyrics such as “Oh, we have fallen /As a whole /And we're sinking /Down a hole /Without thinking /About our loved ones /Who might be shrinking /Into the sunken space”.
Whilst ‘Qadir’ is named after his friend, Nick broadens his discussion to the general disconnect in our capitalist society. “Oh, hemos sido esclavos /To these systems /That project false beauty”. ‘Qadir’ reminds listeners to look within, and to each other for peace - “There seems to be a complexity /To being kind”.
The song has a lazy, languid feel, achieved with ambient keyboard chords and delicate notes played on the glockenspiel. When speaking about the record himself, Hakim revealed that "If I really sink into a recording, I don't want it to end," and "It's repetitive and hypnotizing, like a trance -- that's intentional. The song is my ode to him. It's my attempt to relate to how he must have been feeling."
WILL THIS MAKE ME GOOD transcends genres. The entire album is self-produced. It is psychedelic, it is soul, it is RnB. It is a bold, broad record filled with many moods. Above all, in all its indulgent reverb, it is a great record packed with gems – ALL THESE CHANGES, with its beautifully dissonant harmonies deserves a special mention (And ALL THESE INSTRUMENTS, and WHOO and BOUNCING. You get it? Just listen to the entire album).