Mercy me, oh please don’t ask me?
Graciously, oh please don’t do that again!
Dearest please, oh don’t open a window! Please don’t go looking under that bed!
Massachusetts maestro Daniel Ouellette sings like someone standing at the edge of a threshold, hand hovering over a light switch, unsure whether illumination will calm the room or invite something stranger inside. His new single, Bewitchment (Why sweep when you can fly? Things to do with a new broom), arrives with theatrical warmth and careful restraint, a new-wave reverie that feels playful and perilously sincere.
This English reworking of O lindo sonâmbulo benefits from the quiet chemistry of its collaborators. Ouellette’s signature baritone carries a sense of ceremony, full-bodied and deliberate, leaving space for questions to breathe. The vocal phrasing moves with confidence. Jason Mendelson’s synth work wanders in gentle loops and soft bubbles – it feels conversational – whimsical, even, without slipping into novelty. Elizabeth Lorrey’s mix gives the song room to stretch and coil, while Peter Linnane’s mastering keeps everything clear without sanding down its odd angles. Nothing feels overexplained.
There’s a pleasing tension in this track: operatic bombast brushing up against curious electronics reminiscent of Optiganally Yours, King Luan, and later Human League, coupled with Brian Michael Henry’s operatic storytelling style, each tugging the listener toward a different emotional temperature. Thought jumps. Mood shifts. The mind ricochets between wonder and worry.
Lyrically, the song circles desire with nervous grace. Wanting and needing stand face to face, neither blinking first. Saints drift alongside specters; domestic spaces grow charged, beds and windows becoming sites of possibility and unease. Faith appears not as doctrine but as a question spoken aloud, half-hoping for an answer, half-fearing one.
Bewitchment (Why sweep when you can fly? Things to do with a new broom) feels like a private ritual performed in public, inviting listeners to consider what they’re really searching for when they listen for ghosts.
Watch below:
Listen to Bewitchment (Why sweep when you can fly? Things to do with a new broom), out now on Meanie Jeannie Records, below. You can order the single here.
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