Please Hold by Simone Eringfeld

PLEASE HOLD. In other words: stay on the line and wait. Patience has been essential during this time of Covid-19 as most people’s lives were put on hold. This is certainly the case for students, for whom their computer has become their classroom, their bedroom their world. What do they feel? What do they expect? What do they miss? What do they hope for? These are the themes central to the debut album of musician-researcher-poet Simone Eringfeld, who captures the zeitgeist strikingly well.

PLEASE HOLD is the artistic outcome of a unique creative process. Simone herself was undertaking a master’s degree at Cambridge University when the pandemic turned her life upside down. To document the crisis in real time, she started a weekly podcast in which she interviewed students and professors about the impact of the coronavirus on higher education. These ‘Cambridge Quaranchats’ were listened to so often that Simone decided to develop podcasting as a new research method.

From her interviews, Simone selected the most meaningful fragments to compile ‘data-poems’ with. A wide range of emotions emerges, from nostalgia about the things we miss (such as hugs, serendipitous encounters, cafe ambience) to dystopian scenarios that would not misfit a Black Mirror script. Above all, the poetry evokes a sense of recognition: from Zoom fatigue to frustration about disrupted video calls, from loneliness to hope. With this project, Simone has won the prestigious BERA Award in the UK.

For PLEASE HOLD, Simone composed original arrangements and set the poems to music. The result is a touching spoken word performance whereby the listener is taken on a journey to reflect on the past year of Covid-19, accompanied by the pressing question: what shall the future bring?

Tracklist

1.	I Miss	2:48

2.	Please Hold	6:01

3.	Not Really Real	3:55

4.	More Human	4:56

Credits

released April 8, 2021

Lyrics: Simone Eringfeld
Arrangement: Simone Eringfeld
Performance: Simone Eringfeld

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