As the United States begins to survey the damage of a blizzard that has affected an estimated 80 million people across 20 states and left a reported 28 people dead, the Australian musician Chet Faker has released a new track inspired by it, In-Between.
The Aria-winning artist is stranded in New York City, which, along with Washington, has been effectively shut down by the near-record snowfall. Faker moved to Brooklyn from Melbourne in 2014.
“Bit a snow and ya boy cant get no pizza”, he wrote on Twitter before uploading In-Between to SoundCloud.
The song, which received more than 30,000 listens within 18 hours, features an airy, pared-back mix overlaid not by Faker’s vocals but by a speech delivered by the New York mayor, Bill de Blasio, during last year’s blizzard, which killed three people.
“We’re going to give you an update on the approaching storm and the preparations the city of New York is taking to prepare, to handle this,” de Blasio says, in an eerie parallel to last weekend’s snowstorm.
“Again, this will most likely be one of the largest blizzards in the history of New York City. I’m asking everyone to understand that and to prepare accordingly.
“This is not going to be like other snowstorms. It is going to be – by all indications – worse. And people have to be ready.”
Faker’s first album, Built on Glass, released in 2014, made its debut at No 1 on the Aria charts and won five Aria awards, while its lead single, Talk Is Cheap, came in at No 1 on last year’s Triple J Hottest 100.
His latest EP, Work – a collaboration with the London DJ Marcus Marr – was released in December.
