Jennifer O'Connor: Desire And Hope

In "Here With Me," Jennifer O'Connor writes a song to build a mix tape around.

Debora Francis

The ubiquity of love and loss will make them staples of pop songs until the end of time. As if to prove that their impact hasn't waned, Jennifer O'Connor packs an emotional punch with the simplest of materials and the clearest of desires. On her new album, Here With Me, O'Connor composes a love letter to the world, expressing with raw, heartfelt sentiment her reflections on past and present journeys, as well as her anticipation for future ones.

"Here With Me" is a song to build a mix tape around. Flawlessly constructed from bare acoustic riffs and crisp beats, the track lets O'Connor's half-plaintive, half-expectant vocals tell a universal story of desire and hope. "I know the things you want to be," she sings. "I don't know if they will ever come for anyone." But she suggests that the answer, or least the path to finding it, lies in being with the one person who lights up your dark nights and whose company you never want to be without.

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