Track Review: Isaac Snow // Why
Why. It’s a simple three-letter word, but it has the power to question everything from why you like hamburgers to why society is the way it is. In his latest single ‘Why’, singer-songwriter Isaac Snow uses this small three-letter word in a very big way. Instead of a selfish question like “why don’t want to be my boyfriend”, Issac held up a mirror to Brexit UK and create awareness of the current sociopolitical climate.
The London-based indie-folk artist began playing music during his teenage years when he self-taught himself to play the guitar. Soon afterwards, he grew tired of playing covers and began working on original material as a catharsis and reflection on the world around him. With ‘Why’ he focuses primarily on the hostility towards migrants in the UK and how it dehumanises people feeding public violence.
“I was inspired to write the song after Nigel Farage’s horrific UKIP anti-migrant billboard campaign was released across the UK in 2016. The campaign depicted people seeking asylum in the UK with a strapline of ‘Breaking Point’.” – Isaac Why on ‘Why’
Having lived and worked with refugee populations in Israel, the issue of xenophobia and racism is close to Isaac’s heart. Working with his producer, Isaac achieves a dark, brooding and pensive sound filled with desperation and hopelessness. While his songs are lyrically sombre and poignant, ‘Why’ moves from a simple acoustic sound to something more confrontational with layers of gentle synths and drumbeats.
The instrumentation is cleverly textured, but it is Isaac’s vocals that enhance the concept of ‘Why’. Fragile and complex, but with a ferocity that only comes with brutally raw honesty, ‘Why’ makes you languish in a pit of confusion. It’s easy to accept the world as it is, but the power of ‘Why’ makes you really ask why people continue to behave in such a dangerous attitude and why it must be accepted.
Seriously, why?