Music Review // Carmel Mikol "Trying Not to Hurt You"

With an acoustic guitar and her voice, Carmel Mikol has created a beautiful song with "Trying Not to Hurt You".   There is something to be said for that type of song which feels like it can be played any where and at any time.   I like feeling that the artist can just pick up their guitar and play the song whenever and wherever.   Carmel Mikol shows that here with this song, as it gets very minimal even towards the end.

However, not to be proven wrong or anything but there are a few notes which come through at the end of this song that sound electric.   Those might just be absent from a live performance, but I do enjoy that this isn't just a straight up guitar + vocals song by the end as it has that added layer to it, but if you really needed it to be then it could be played live as such.  

The idea behind this song is what the title says.   The lyrics describe a scene at a house near the beach and lines such as "All the seagulls stand at the end of the surf" come through more than once.  In relationships with other people- whether they're romantic, family, friendships or otherwise- we seem to have this built in quality of not wanting to hurt someone else, yet we also feel obligated to tell the truth at times which can lead to hurt.

With this song, I feel like Carmel Mikol has found a way to be honest and not say something because the intention is to hurt you but because it is the truth.  There are different levels for this for sure, but if you've ever felt like you were going to hurt someone and didn't want to but knew it was a band aid you had to rip off, then this song is for you.