Listen, I’ve been in relationships where everything goes quiet. Where you’re lying next to someone and you can feel the weight settling between you and neither of you knows how to shake it off. You’re both exhausted FROM trying to keep your shit together and the days just keep happening. That’s where Ale Maya’s Such Dullness lives—in that strange, heavy space where love hasn’t died but it’s definitely struggling to breathe. And fuck does she nail that feeling.
So the track opens with “evenings, they dont deserve such dullness / oh these evenings know to fight against the wilderness,” and I’m in my bedroom at 11pm, lights off, just sitting there. Her voice floats over these lush keys and minimal drum machines creating this hazy dream-pop atmosphere that feels like watching dust particles float through late afternoon light. The 1980s alt-pop influence gives it this gorgeous, nostalgic ache – think The Jesus & Mary Chain meeting Dionne Warwick in some half-empty dive bar at 2am, both nursing drinks they stopped tasting an hour ago, when everyone’s tired of pretending everything’s fine.
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We need to talk about how tender this is. She keeps saying “my love” throughout. It’s careful. It’s someone trying to hold on while also trying not to completely fall apart. When she sings “see this is not a tasteless situation / soon we’ll be gone and unaware about it” it lands like a gentle reality check—acknowledging that yeah, this is hard, but it matters. There’s something deeply intimate about that restraint, about staying present with someone even when everything feels flat.
The imagery she uses is so goddamn specific. “so close the windows in case dust is blowing / when is not the season of stormy weather in march and april” paints this picture of someone trying to control the small things because the big things are too overwhelming. It’s maintenance mode. Survival tactics. When she adds “think of good things even though your mind does not / will it while you sail the nocturne skies,” she’s basically coaching both of you through the numbness. That line hits because it’s honest about the effort it takes to just function when everything feels stuck.
Then comes “high points, they’re laughing at such dullness / oh these high points, intimidating scenes of shadow boxing,” and girls, I’m thinking about all those moments when you remember what it used to feel like. When things were electric. When you actually had energy for each other. Now you’re just going through motions and even your best memories feel like they’re mocking you.
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Ale Maya keeps it real here. ” dont be so stubborn, and dont try so hard to go mad / at least its not that bad, i know its kinda sad “ is someone talking their partner off a ledge while probably needing the same reassurance themselves. There’s this quiet desperation in trying to convince each other that you’re not completely lost yet. I’ve been there. I think most girls have.
Ale Maya’s from Paraguay but she’s been living in Taipei, building these introspective dream-pop worlds since her EP1 dropped. Such Dullness shows her getting even more refined with her emotional precision. The minimal production lets every word breathe, every synth shimmer land exactly where it needs to. She performs these songs live with just keys and guitar, creating these intimate shows that feel like stepping inside someone’s actual thoughts.
Real talk—when she closes with “im not sure, always insecure, maybe one day it’ll be fine / all forgotten,” then shifts to “maybe one day it will die / and be buried at last,” she’s offering two possible endings. Either the heaviness fades into acceptance, or it dies completely and gets buried. Either way, nothing’s resolved. You’re just sitting in it together, going “down, down / underground” into whatever this is becoming. That’s what makes this track fucking brilliant. Ale Maya gives you the middle—the exhausting, tender, uncertain middle where you’re still trying and you don’t know if that’s enough.
