The story Learning to Breathe Again by Filip Dahl is as though the first breath after a long time underwater, both painful and sweet at the same time. The Norwegian guitarist again proves why his comeback to the solo work has been so essential, creating a composition where feeling speaks easily without even uttering a word.
The song opens with soft guitar motifs that blow in the morning sun through half-drawn curtains and create the atmosphere of contemplation and reserved hopefulness. This is illustrated by the fact that Dahl is a lead player who has the ability to hear the smallest detail; he knows that space is expressive as speed.
The core of the composition is a beautiful conversation between the piano and the guitar. Instead of sharing space, the two Instruments lean towards each other, sharing sentiment and support. The faint percussion below it serves as a sort of heartbeat.
Learning to Breath Again is an emotionally heavy song, but it is the manner in which the title is incorporated into the music itself. The developments come and go, like the assessed breathing, hesitant and persistent as the gradual healing. It is a subject of weakness, and determination, taken with mute self-confidence.
Based on his prog-rock and blues roots but distinctively personal, Dahl has made something therapeutic. This is not music to play whilst doing other things, it is music to play when one is alone and needs to reflect. The flowing production and well-positioned dynamics in the track encourage the listeners to stop, inhale, and restart all over. In the end, Learning to Breath Again asks the listeners to take a contemplative trip back to the idea that even when we are not talking, we can be strongly attached to our personal feelings as well as a remedy.
