Erik Hassle “Hurtful”
If it’s possible, try to get past Stockholm, Sweden-born newcomer Erik Hassle’s attention-distracting resemblance to Napoleon Dynamite, so you can completely indulge yourself in the pop greatness that is his single, “Hurtful”.
Kin to The Fray/ OneRepublic brand of melodramatic pop/ rock (read: if it hasn’t already, it’ll be soundtracking some primetime TV scene soon enough), “Hurtful” documents one man’s tardy ownership of his part in a romance’s failing. “I used to laugh it off/ I used to look the other way”, Hassle admits of his behavior back then. But, as they say, “hindsight is 20/20″, and once he fully realizes his mistakes while cloaked in his current lonely state of being, a gush of apologies spew forth on an epic, clouds-parting hook: “I was wrong from the start, from the bottom of my heart/ I apologize/ What I did to you was hurtful/…What I’m going through is hurtful”.
After checking out the video/ track below (in addition to a fetching dance remix by Wildfunkerz), click on over to Hassle’s MySpace and become acquainted with two other fine-tuned gems: the mournful, piano-stroked “Is This The Thanks I Get” and the synth-powered (and brilliantly titled) “Don’t Bring Flowers After I’m Dead”.
Erik’s debut, Hassle, is due for a June Sweden release, but you can pre-order the import here.
You lost me at OneRepublic/The Fray.