Posthumous single: That's what Aviciis sounds like "SOS"

It seems almost inevitable: After the death of a musician begins the search for his legacy. Are there any unknown songs? Forgotten shots? Song sketches? And the question comes up: If there is actually something, how should one handle it?

When the life of Tim Bergling ended on April 20, 2018 in Oman, he, who had become known as a DJ and producer under the name Avicii, of course, left no vault full of shots as Prince with his famous vault . But the 28-year-old had worked on songs, in a conference call shortly before his death, they had discussed what should come on a future album, says the record company today.

Avicii has left audio tracks on computers, midi tracks from his keyboard recordings, material from which his co-producers have tried to reconstruct and complete the songs. The result will be heard on the album "Tim" in June. A first taste has already been released with the song "SOS" as a preliminary single.

After a few synthesizer sounds, Aloe Blacc's voice is heard, and he also sang on the biggest commercial success of Avicii's musical career, "Wake Me Up". "Can you hear me SOS," sings Aloe Blacc, with significantly more soul in his voice than once Aviciis Swedish compatriots Abba on their "SOS" song: "Help me put my mind to rest".

Melancholic is the mood of the stanzas, but it clarifies in the second part: "I do not need my drugs," the singer asserted, "we could more than just just time Lovers". This is followed by one of those typical for Avicii melody themes that settle immediately in the head.

"The text is apparently about some of the battles he had to go through," says Aloe Blacc in a video accompanying the creation of the song. "I get robbed of all my sleep," says the second stanza, all these thoughts "I'd let go but I do not know how" - I would let go, but I do not know how.

Lines that gain a deep dramatic connotation through the knowledge of the early death of the musician; the family assumes a suicide that Tim Bergling had mental health problems, was known to his environment.

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It is remarkable to hear such a clearly pronounced cry for help in a music that is as functional as Avicii's. The song "SOS" is quite controlled in its structure. Some Avicii songs turned the scale over the measure to give the feeling of loss of control. This does not happen here. Maybe because his co-producers did not want to go wrong. And of course it's idle to speculate on what Tim Bergling himself would have taken out of the song.

Anything that will jump out financially from "SOS" and the following album should certainly serve a good cause. Tim Bergling's parents, who explicitly agreed to the album project, have founded a foundation with the goal of suicide prevention and the treatment of mental illness.