We listened to SYML back in week 492 when he covered a Neil Young song, but I spent most of that post talking about Neil Young and not enough talking about SYML.
SYML is the stage name of Brian Fennell. The first time I read it, I think I mis-read it and thought it was a cutesy stylized spelling of “smile” — an assumption that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Fennell was born to parents who were too young to deal with a baby; they were 17 and 18 respectively and put him up for adoption when he was three days old. When he himself was 18, Fennell gained access to his adoption papers and discovered that his biological parents were second-generation Welsh immigrants. Having grown up in Seattle, he knew very little about Wales, and scrambled to learn everything he could about his newfound heritage.
He was also given a letter, hand-written by his birth mother before he was given up for adoption, in which she addressed him directly but didn’t refer to him by a name, as he hadn’t been named yet, and wouldn’t be until adopted by the Fennell family. In an interview, he explained what it was like to read the letter:
“I think one of the most gutting things was the blank spaces where my name was meant to go…It was a really sweet note sort of explaining why it wasn’t the right time for her to be a mother and for my birth father to be a father. I think I’ve only read it twice, it’s so intense to read.”
A few years later, when he left his first band and began to forge a career as a solo artist, he chose ‘syml,’ the Welsh word for ‘simple,’ as his stage name. A small but literally simple nod to his biological past.
What I love most about SYML’s music is that it’s a bit like that name: deceptively simple, and at first glance might be mistaken for cutesy. But a closer look reveals incredible emotional depth.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. While I have nothing against the non-acoustic version, this one lets Fennell’s voice stand out more. He’s not a belt-it-out type of singer, but he’s got a strength to his tone that others in this genre typically don’t.
2. In the “did she run away” part of the chorus, there’s an interesting stuttering of the time signature; it shifts to 3/4 time for a couple of bars before settling back to 4/4 again. Somehow this gives me the impression of a building and then breaking hopes.
3. Although he didn’t write it about a specific person or a specific loss, there is so much in Fennell’s past – never knowing his birth parents, losing his father to cancer just after cracking into musical success – that every lyric here about running away and coming back is infused with that genuine sadness.
Recommended listening activity:
Getting to know your past.