Beginning with delicate fingerpicked acoustic guitar, ‘Tourniquet’ gradually unfolds around May’s warm, breathy and quietly aching vocal. Strings begin to swell in the background before gentle percussion joins, but midway through the arrangement shifts: the fingerpicking falls away, replaced by strummed guitar and fuller percussion that give the song a greater sense of forward movement.

Eventually those two approaches come together, beautifully mirroring the emotional tension at the song’s heart. The delicacy of its opening feels rooted in longing, while the more purposeful strumming suggests acceptance beginning to take hold. Rather than presenting letting go as one clean break, ‘Tourniquet’ allows both feelings to exist at once, making for a tender and deeply affecting piece of indie-folk.

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