so, not unlike the infamous/famous calvin klein perfume by the same name, you could call it an “obsession” with how i feel about the new track “1704” from swedish producer imchibeat and swedish rapper simon emanuel.
ya girl has a bit of a thing for swedish hip-hop at the moment. it started with being introduced to the random bastards collective by some of my swedish friends and there’s something about that sound that just hits for me. this song in particular has scratched a very particular itch of mine, and i featured it on my december 2025 playlist.
i’ve written about imchibeat before and as mentioned in that previous bit of writing – he has a very excellent way of creating these very interesting and emotional tracks – and “1704” is not an exception from this. this is gonna sound weird maybe but “1704” reminds me a lot of burial (one of my all time favourite artists)- just this very pensive emotional self reflection dripping off the production.
so like, this emotional production of imchi’s is then overlaid with simon emanuel’s very smooth and just as self-reflective lyricism and composition, my guy simon can fucking write. of course, the song is in swedish, and i do understand that most of the people who come across this blog, may not read or understand swedish, but i do challenge you to go check it out and just let the song wash over you.
“be för staden” is said several times through the song and it means “pray for the city“, and how fitting. i first listened to this track on a difficult day as i walked through the downtown streets of my city, i walked by signs for new restaurants, pretty girls wearing fashionable clothing, people shooting up, graffiti advertising drugs and drug dealers with the hookup butted up against flyers for bible study classes or alcoholics anonymous meetings. it was one of those grey rainy days that matched my mood perfectly, you know the kind where you breathe in and fill your lungs with the smell of the city, gasoline, and petrichor, cheap perfume, cigarette smoke, someone smoking weed somewhere, food cooking.. just this heady aroma of people together. one can be easily overcome by the life and decay all around us – absolution, deliverance, hell, and horror existing in this simultaneous and never ending struggle for dominance. and i love it.
the same bitter romance that plays out in my city’s streets plays out perfectly in “1704” – there’s this grief, and loneliness in imchi’s production that stands right alongside the stubborn pride and self awareness of simon’s bars. i cannot stress enough how much this song has been on my mind. i play it over and over and translate the lyrics myself (though i do thank imchi for helping me with some words i couldn’t immediately hear as my swedish isn’t great yet).
i don’t want to sound like some kind of crybaby or nothin, but i feel so very grateful to live in this time and to be able to experience music like this. i’ve felt very alone in my life, it happens when you grow up a fucking weirdo, an outcast, someone forever doomed to live on the edges, the fringes, and when i hear music like this, it makes me feel less alone knowing that other people have felt like i have, have lived what i have, and i think that’s special. not everyone experiences things like this. finding those who have, those who get it? it’s a headrush.
anyways, it means a lot.
thanks simon and imchi for the cool tunes.
hospital vespers 