By Charlie Maybee
Los Angeles based alternative rocker, Norman Lake, is back with a new brooding, melancholy single “Feel” which feels both sparse and heavy.
This song is like laying in an open field that’s been burned in a wildfire. There’s a calmness to it that is comforting, but there are layers of sadness and devastation that creep in through the off-kilter compositions of the guitar and piano. Taking a page from a variety of emo and indie influences (Modest Mouse and Dashboard Confessional both feel present), this is a song that leans emotively into the depths of loneliness.
“Didn’t want to pull away”, Lake sings in the first verse, “But it’s easier than pulling the trigger / on what I want to say, mind simmers”. The lyricism has a level of desperation that hints at some sort of violence (emotional or physical). But as he decides to “save face” and “void deal” he laments that “This is how I’ll always feel”. Hence this feeling of lying dead field to seek comfort while having this aesthetic experience of tragic loss.
There’s a lot I could say about the inherent darkness that lies beneath the surface of a song like this when it comes to the song’s roots or inspiration, but the overall effect is startlingly serene. There’s no moving through or turning back, just soaking it all in and living in the emotive “feel” that this song puts forward.
“Feel” is available on major streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Find this and more great music on the Alchemical Records Multigenre Mixture playlist on Spotify.
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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Alchemical Records is a Washington, D.C. based music publication. We cover the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, VA metro area music scenes, including band interviews, articles about your favorite musicians, new music and concert dates.
