There's something beautiful and ache-inducing about "heart shaped bed," the latest single from Berlin band BED and that is the point. Argentinian bassist Sol Astol and Chilean vocalist Nicolás Astorga, who came together as a duo in 2021, BED were seemingly born out of the shadows with a sound just as shadowy as it is seductive.
German guitarist Ema Schiller, who joined the band, was the final element in the band's signature sound, a style built on the hazy flow of shoegaze, the emotional pull of dream pop, and the rugged contours of post-punk. On "heart shaped bed," all those influences blend into the band's most searing, vulnerable work.
This is a safe space made of sound for anyone who has ever carried the torch for the wrong person for too long. Penned in the wake of toxic entanglements, Astorga and Astol found themselves in the film's namesake sway, the "heart shaped bed." The track delves into the murky depths of emotional co-dependency with graceful honesty. But this is not a dramatic breakup song. Instead, it murmurs its own style of pain, which stubbornly resides beneath your skin, intimate, dogged, and known.
Astorga's voice wafts through the track like a half-remembered dream, fragile but haunted. His voice tells a story with an ache that sounds worn in. Underneath him, bassist Astol's lines pulse like a heart on the precipice of collapse, and Schiller's guitar textures glisten and wash away, providing an aural bed that may feel soft enough to collapse into but dissonant enough to cause pain upon landing.
There's no dramatic climax, no catchy hook designed to go viral. BED, instead, leans into atmosphere and openness, making a soundscape that needs to be felt, not just heard. This is music for the still and silent moments after the storm when the wreck is more visible than the love that caused the damage. On "heart shaped bed,' BED doesn't simply transfer their suffering but allows you to name your own.
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Reviewed by LyricalOdyssey Music
on
June 03, 2025
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