Today I’m beyond excited to share the latest music video from Yotam Ben Horin called “In Between The Highs and Lows,” that comes from his upcoming solo album Young Forever. The record will be released on on May 20th via Double Helix Records. If you’re enjoying the new single, please consider pre-ordering Young Forever here. Also,I had the chance to catch up with Horin before the release of this single, and we discussed the direction of the new material.
What is this track’s significance to you, and what inspired its lyrical material?
Every once in a while you write a song you haven’t written before and it seems like a leap forward in your songwriting. I feel that “In Between the Highs and Lows” is that song on this record. It has that stand-out quality to it. I normally start with a melody or an idea–even though I use the lyrics-first approach as well. But on this specific tune, it kind of wrote itself: once I had the verse and chorus I had the bulk of the lyrics as well. While I was touring nonstop in 2017, suddenly I was also in a relationship. I was trying to hold on to both of my worlds while they both simultaneously started collapsing–since they weren’t balanced. I was exhausted from being on the road. Meanwhile my new personal life was slowly falling apart as well because of the time changes. We have our happy moments and sad moments in our relationship, and sometimes the best place to be is balanced in the middle. That’s something I had to learn along the way.
When going into writing, how do you approach translating your ideas and inspirations into a fully realized track, where do you start?
I mostly start with a guitar, a melody, an idea, or a song title. With guitar, I like playing an unplugged electric guitar in the middle of the night ’cause it doesn’t make too much noise. I can fully envision the rest of the instruments on a song right away. If I’m writing on acoustic guitar during the day, songs come out more upbeat, and during the night I write the saddest stuff in the world, so at least I know that. With this song, I actually had written it to be much faster, but then the idea of adding horns came to me right before I entered the studio and started thinking more about production. It’s something I have never had on any of my songs and, with that addition, the idea to slow the song down made more sense.
With regard to your forthcoming album and the tour in support of it, what are you most excited to share with fans in a live setting and on record?
Well, for this past month leading up to the tour I’ve practiced my set almost daily. I’m looking forward to playing these new songs, which I’ve never played in front of a live audience, and telling my stories, and just connecting with people all over the world. I have truly missed all of that.