Michael Koullas is an expert at drawing out sentimental emotions through gentle tones and a sincere devotion to musical expression. His caring method is portrayed beyond an alluring sensation behind his prolific skill on the guitar. Every strum of the string, and each vocal from high to low creates gripping goose bumps edging his way into our hearts. There is an element of loneliness and uncertainty in Koullas’ virtuous voice, yet he harbours a glimpse of hope as he sings at us, being completely transparent. “Around” as inviting as it is, is an honest depiction of an individual’s underlying desires, unmasked by the fear of reality.
The focal point of “Around” revisits the uncertainty Koullas has regarding whether his feelings are reciprocated or not. Koullas sings, ““Open up your smiling face/Show me love with all its grace/Around you”, followed by repeating the phrase “And I hope you feel the same as I for you”. As the song swivels from verse to verse, Koullas retains the same recurring theme, how everything he does, feels and thinks, circles around this one person. Although this is a song about love, what makes it so ambigious is the anguish tendencies that accompany it. For we begin to learn that this is an unrequited love, a feeling of misery, which brings us down with him.
-Aly Mchugh
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