Reflect by Etienne de Villiers
I chose this song as the first release of my upcoming album, as it felt like the most accessible. I actually wrote this song last, when things in my life started improving and it is therefore somewhat less sad and challenging. The title “reflect” refers to several aspects. As the first song, I’m hoping it sets the mood for the rest of the songs, to draw you into a state of looking inwards and reflecting. To me the song also conjures up the visual of light reflecting off the surface of water at night. And from a technical point of view, the initial melody that is played in the right hand is “reflected” in the left hand for most of the rest of the song, until finally returning to the right hand again.
In 2019, at the age of 39, Etienne decided to learn the piano. A few years later, his wife of 17 years passed away. As a way to cope with the grief, he turned to the piano and started writing songs for the first time. These songs, although born from grief, are not songs of grief, but therapy through the expression of music.