Richardine Bartee
You never know where a song might take you. Bordeen’s music makes you go deep.
Watch the video for ‘Ocean Tide’ below.
Bordeen—a name that kinda rhymes with ‘Richardine’— emailed me on the last day of February concerning their video for ‘Ocean Tide’. I’ve been running around, handling publicity for the stars. So publishing had to take a back seat. In my new moments of solitude at the new place, I find myself listening to lots of piano-laden music or ambient-experimental tracks. During my search for something with words, I opened my email. Thumbing through email submissions from late February and the month of March, I found Bordeen.
It’s been a while since I’ve had a peace of mind or since I’ve been home alone. Suzi Analogue could tell you. She called me a few days ago, and she noticed the vast differences. There we no voices nor sounds behind me. It was just me until my significant other walked in with groceries. It was quiet, the kind of silence that some people would negotiate or chase.
It was within those moments I was able to check my email without interruption. Then, a message so sharp seemed to peer back at me with its own eyes.
This song is about accepting the things in life that are out of your control and being ok with that. There’s a certain melancholy about it, but through surrender, there’s a greater hope.
Bordeen’s explanation inspired me to self-evaluate. On a personal and familial level, I have been in compromising situations. I wasn’t in control, but I had to conform to exist. I no longer live with my family, so much precious time has passed. I do not regret it all except that I did not spend more time with my father before he died.
I believe when you’re looking at the mirror, another version of you appears. Your soul looks at your flesh. Then, it zeroes in at the things abode to your physical form to appreciate. Soon after, it affixes to the things it doesn’t enjoy. It is a deal as big as the tallest building in the world because it is how others see you in the world. The things in life that you or I don’t have control over. The things that you and I have to be ok with, or that we *change* with a plane ticket, cosmetic surgery, a new occupation, or a new community.
When I look, I see the quiet girl who lost her way. In her youth, she grabbed and held onto her writing tools. For as far back as her memory goes, she’s written. She cannot remember a time when she wasn’t writing or communicating. At her stage of adolescence, she escaped reality. It was her right to imagine. It was her right to stay safe, mentally.
As a woman, she is still content when she writes, but she is without a commitment to anything else. She has tried, but her love is only unconditional for her parents, and to everyone, she’s met through the journey of writing. Hopefully, “there’s a greater hope” for those who are not on her calling path. Maybe one day, she will find the ocean tide.
Watch the video for ‘Ocean Tide’. The single is from the forthcoming album, Stiver. Bordeen is based north of Toronto, and the group consists of siblings Brianna, Ryan, and Daniel.
