Kleerup and Robyn - With Every Heartbeat
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A. With Every Heartbeat
B. With Every Heartbeat Meatboys remix
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It may come as a surprise, but Service was actually behind this one.
I was woken at three in the morning by my friend Luciano and Andreas Kleerup calling to excitedly insist I listen to the latter’s fresh tune over the phone. My drowsiness quickly gave way as the intensity of the song increased.
It sounded like a glazed, Nordic, Unfinished Sympathy. But more, it is a monument of existential tragedy. Robyn’s vocals have never been stronger, giving voice to the unbearable experience of being crushed between future and past.
Time mercilessly commands movement in one direction, which means the loss of everything that was. You must go forward, but every step means leaving. Every heartbeat is hurting.
Even the structure of the composition mirrors this by dividing itself – at the weightless, word and worldless violin break – in before and after, transforming itself into a steady march of pain, dying with every relentless step.
Borges (the blind librarian) has portrayed our linear conception of time as entrapment in the most horrible labyrinth: the straight path.
It was not possible to go back to sleep after that.
An agreement was immediately entered for release on Service.
A few months later this came to the attention of Virgin/EMI, who then suddenly recalled an old contract with Kleerup they kept in a dusty drawer, which enabled them to hi-jack the project. It was not my first unpleasant experience with a major record company, but this one hurt.
The single first came out on vinyl on Service’s sub-label Risky Dazzle, and later on Virgin. The following summer, the song hit no. 1 on the UK singles chart and was certified platinum. Which I guess kickstarted Robyn’s international career.
Though I wish it had played out differently, I am bitterly proud this incredible song is part of Service’s story.
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7" single
ARTWORK: Andreas' sister
RECORDED BY: Andreas Kleerup
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RISK003 2007
