Reaching for the Untouchable: Iceage comes out with a new single “The Holding Hand”, a sentimental anthem.

“The Holding Hand'' is a new song from Iceage, the Danish Punk band that always manages to deliver the perfect  soundtrack to either conquering the shores during a war, or a mad cry of euphoric dancing. Regardless to say, they always seem to produce a sound that is exclaiming the height of human emotion. But this song in specific creates a different emotional delivery.

All the while on this introspective journey, it still carries the ever growing crescendo of a militaristic ballad that the band so often and effectively delivers.

The song is a cry, a longing for something out of reach from what can be physically touched, something just past the “holding hand”. It describes a massive force, which is this longing, that drives one to endure certain trials and tribulations to reach something so vague. As the chorus says-  “And we row, on we go, through these murky water bodies. Little known, little shown, just a distant call of sound”. It describes the enduring loneliness, a suffering nostalgia due to a lack one manages to attain or touch this “holding hand”. 

The video is a series of very simple shots of Elias speaking to himself in the mirror or illuminated by candle light. Each shot only shows one person at the time, the band members either stare directly at the camera with the simple backdrop of a blue sky behind them, or they are looking at their own reflection in the mirror - almost as if he’s reciting their collective thoughts.

The shots in the video isolate each band member, giving the message that this is an individual, personal experience. It's no surprise that this sentiment is the only single the band has released in a while - a universally shared sentiment of deep longing. The way the world has changed, a massive universal loss, comes a silent want that all experience on an individual level.

- Andrea Susarrey

@sus_dre

Image: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1ZCcJLEvhM