Staring Too Long at Someone You Can’t Have

Aurealis turns a forbidden crush into glossy synth-pop on “Exquisite,” and lets restraint do the heavy lifting.

You know the moment. Someone walks in, and your brain files a complaint. Eyes up, eyes away, eyes up again. Nobody’s done anything wrong yet, least of all you.

That’s the whole engine of “Exquisite,” out September 25. The narrator rehearses a conversation that’ll never happen, loses his composure in real time, and knows exactly where the line sits. He stays behind it. The song lives in the cost of staying put.

Musically, everything is shiny. Multi-layered vocals overlap like doubtful emotions, and the “mind, mind, mind” chorus loops like an obsession you cannot stop. Then, the hook comes: “You are utterly exquisite.” Happiness-filled, a bit embarrassing, and completely involuntary.

The video makes the tension tangible. There are black and shiny white rooms with mirrors all around; the two characters seem to be circling each other in an unapproachable way. Each mirror image represents the same desire in a different form.

It seems that Aurealis is doing the job on her own some more. She works in the studio only wearing a mask. It is understandable that the song is about private feelings.

The most important point is, perhaps, the honesty of it all.