The Bergamot’s “Tides” is built around loss, memory, and the kind of writing that does not need to rush toward a huge payoff to make its point.
The song draws from a personal story tied to Nathaniel Paul’s late father, and that context gives the single its center. The duo keeps the arrangement focused on piano, voice, and scale, with producer and mixer Matt Wiggins helping shape a version of the song that feels wide without becoming overworked.
That balance is something big you need to be focusing on as well, because while “Tides” is a piano ballad, it is also an album opener in spirit. It introduces “Before This Is Over” by placing mortality and connection at the forefront of the record’s emotional language. So let’s unpack it a bit more…
The Piano Gives the Song Its Heartbeat
The best thing, in my opinion, about “Tides” is how direct the writing feels. The Bergamot does not bury the song under arrangement moves. The piano carries the shape, and the vocal performance gives the track its human detail.
That approach fits the duo’s recent arc. Nathaniel Paul and Jillian Speece have built a catalog around harmony-led writing, film work, and a clear interest in songs that can hold a larger idea without losing the personal story inside it.
I wrote about that same side of the duo in my article on The Bergamot’s Give Love Away, a project made with the Notre Dame Children’s Choir and recorded at Leighton Concert Hall.
The Orchestra Premiere Adds Context
The Bergamot recently premiered “Tides” live with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra at the Morris Performing Arts Center. That setting tracks with the song’s scale, but it also says something about how the duo hears this material. Because I dont think it should be seen as a small acoustic sketch, all dressed up for something that might come later. “Tides” feels written with space around it, which gives the song room to work in a solo listening setting and in a larger concert room.
The single also follows a wider run of attention for The Bergamot, including recent recognition from Rolling Stone UK and SPIN Magazine. Their documentary State of the Unity is currently streaming on Apple TV, with its transcript held in the Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills.
A Clear First Step Into Before This Is Over
“Tides” works as a lead single because it gives the next album a clear emotional entry point. It is patient, personal, and arranged with enough restraint to keep the writing in focus.
For The Bergamot, that is the right move. The duo’s best material tends to work when the message and the melody are carrying the same idea. “Tides” does that cleanly, and it sets Before This Is Over up as a record shaped by grief, love, and the fragile timing of human connection.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
