Premiere: Paul Doffing grapples with intimacy on new song, ‘Shake You’

Human interconnectivity is nothing more than a gridlock of physical, emotional and psychological intimacy. The underlining mechanics are both exhausting and liberating, as if cracking the code of a Rubik’s Cube just in the knick of time. The weight absolves you of the journey, and you somehow are then able to conquer other components of self and your place in another’s orbit. Born of the sweeping mid-west, folk craftsman Paul Doffing digs his voice into the earth with his new song “Shake You,” premiering today. “I feel the summer sun / It comes right through the glass,” he sculpts with a thick maple tenor. The ends of his phrases are burnt, owing to the emotional expedition he undergoes to understand the exact pull of intimacy’s starlight.

“I don’t wanna break you / I just wanna make you, ooo / And I don’t wanna leave you now,” he softly mutters in an almost haunting upheaval. His crisp breath gathers in frost-tipped waves that beckon a lover further into his sphere, while he seems to sacrifice all parts of himself to find a way back out again. Drums and other percussion scratch against the acoustic guitar, as if the bottled-up emotions are finally worming their way through the chords at an exponential rate. Drawing upon such touch points as Creedence Clear Water Revival and Tom Waits, weaving in and out of the shadowy hall of music history for his own special imprint, “Shake You” deals a splendid and imposing level of complexity.

“[This song] has a lot to do with catharsis of physical connection and the puzzle of intimacy,” writes Doffing to B-Sides & Badlands over email, “the balance of the soft and delicate with the hard and heavy.”

Throughout his blossoming catalog, including three studio full-lengths, Doffing has collected various experiences in rock and roll, blues and jazz music, among other strands. With his forthcoming new album, he gears up for more incisive questions of love, loss and slotting out a place in the world. “Shake You,” which situates an existentialist proposal on the lasting effects of physical contact, signals a rebirth for the folk grazer. It’s a hazy, darkly-brooding ballad that should (and will) get the world talking.

Doffing’s new album Running in the Dark drops everywhere June 14.

Listen below:

Photo Credit: Andre Nguyen

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