With a melodic vocal presence backed by electronic beats that might remind you of Postal Service, the mid-tempo vibe here floats like clouds on a warm summer day. Crooning about self-possession in the face of circumstance, and the mystical importance of timing to life’s decision-making, Nicholas Roberts explains how someone can become invisible, and then disappear.

Beginnings can be so perfect, not just because of the intense possibility, but also because of the lack of conflict; yet it is through the hard lessons of communication that we achieve true coexistence. So, before the truth, there is something else - a sort of prescience that resonates with both childish purity and codependence.

It’s an important thing to remember, that sometimes there is nothing to do but wait: for a new day, a different expectation, or just for something to change. Tomorrow, the door that was closed today may well be open.

I Couldn't Tell, the latest from Florida’s Nicholas Roberts and Wild Pines, is a smooth explication of the adjustments to a life that arise when we learn more from failure than success.

From the Artist

I started writing this song in the lobby of a Hyatt hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina. There was a massive hurricane coming through and nobody knew if it was safe to leave. I put on some headphones and just started getting creative. I kept the Weather Channel on in the corner of my eye, waiting to see if I could pack up my gear and keep driving to get away from the storm... I sent the demo to Wild Pines when I got home. We bounced ideas back and forth and he started layering these really cool guitars over the instrumental. The song kind of poured out of us right after we started.

This song is featured on our CHILL New Songwriters playlist.