by Alex Wexelman (@alexwexelman)
It’s currently 2:17 AM. Peak “what the hell am I doing with my life?” hours. We’re in a moment where everyone’s figuring it out—even the current administration is just throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks. I’m currently staring at the ceiling, encased in silence with the exception of my loud brain wondering what’s next. The answer, if there is one, is, “I don’t fucking know.”
I have dreams, but you wake up from dreams with even more questions. Mostly, I think and wish and hope and pray they might come true, but my ambition is stifled by anxiety and depression.
Brooklyn trio Vassals covers similar ground on their newest single “Sea Spells.” Singer-bassist Shay Spence describes the song’s narrative thusly:
"These days, I read "Sea Spells" as a character trying and failing to ignore away their problems. The narrator talks of lying awake, hoping that "some sweet magician" might fix their life, and later tries to perform normalcy while perpetually dissociated. The EP title, Halogen Days [out April 7], comes from a line describing the unnerving brightness of manic episodes, followed by "the deepest of blues", which is a pun I don't think I meant to make, haha. I feel like the major/minor drone of the final section illustrates the narrator's internal push and pull that keeps them pinned in place."
Over its three and a half minutes, the song’s tension builds starting with heavy drums and a deep bass tone before a guitar solo erupts like Mount Vesuvius giving Spence permission to really let it rip with an impassioned vocal performance.
Vassals' Halogen Days is out April 7th.