By Charlie Maybee
Psychedelic electro pop musician, George Lattimore (aka Graffiti Welfare) has released his new single, “Volume” along with a trippy music video to foreshadow the upcoming album Revolving Shores.
The music video reminds me of the general eeriness and backrooms feel of Twin Peaks as it distorts our view of various people and cityscapes. The video already comes across slightly aged (my guess is 1980’s) with shots of Times Square with older car models and vintage brand logos. With other visual distortions through color manipulation, overlapping video clips, and blurring the edges of moving images, it takes on an ambiguous blob-like look that feels like its simultaneously melting and slithering, but it never comes across as purely ominous. In fact, I would say that behind the nostalgia-tinted filter is a longing for the past.
Musically, it holds a similar ethereal vibe to the visual components with layered synthesizers dreamy, echoing vocals, and a strangely hypnotic bass line that bounces around. Reminiscent of the same kind of psychedelic pop that Tame Impala is known for, this is a song where the various instruments significantly contrast each other and overlap in a way that is cacophonous, but manages a smooth balance that feels soothing despite how busy it is at any given moment.
There’s a constant encouragement to wonder within the lyrics, “Revolving shores nomad, home is where you’re at”. The song doesn’t feel like it ever lands on solid ground, so perhaps we should untether and let is carry us off into the distance – home isn’t a place of arrival, but a process of going somewhere.
“Volume” is available on major streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. The accompanying music video is also available on YouTube. Graffiti Welfare’s upcoming album, Revolving Shores, is set to be release on June 17, 2022.
Charlie Maybee is a dancer, musician, educator, and writer based in Charleston, South Carolina who currently teaches with the Dance Program at the College of Charleston. His primary work as an artist is with his performing collective, Polymath Performance Project, through which he makes interdisciplinary performance art that centers tap dance as the primary medium of expression and research. He also currently plays rhythm guitar for the Charleston-based punk band, Anergy, and releases music as a solo artist under the name Nox Eterna.
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