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Music

Halifax's Vogue Dots Get More Chill Than You Can Possibly Comprehend on "If You Stay"

It's from Halifax, how could it not be chill?

Photo by Meghan Whitton

There is chill and then there's chill. Halifax synth-poppers Vogue Dots have accomplished the latter with their new single "If You Stay", but there's a twist. While the voluminous, synth-sounding guitars (and vice-versa) and singer/producer Babette Hayward's throaty vocals move at a steady, calming throb, catch how Hayward reaches into her yearning falsetto range for the chorus. Suddenly, the tortured core of the song is revealed.

"When we first wrote 'If You Stay', the melody and song structure were written on piano, along with the first line,'Hey, If you stay, I won’t judge you, I won’t play'," explained the band. "The rest of the lyrics were written a few years later when going through a tumultuous relationship. The main idea behind the song is witnessing self-destructive behaviour in someone you love, that ultimately affects the people they care about the most." Listen to "If You Stay" below.

Phil Witmer was listening to death metal when he wrote this. Follow him on Twitter.