Unofficial fanmade vid for "Simple Song"
The tone of 🌝 this brief 1:54 song 🌚 sounds like something you'd hear on Sesame Street or Blues Clues, yet when you squint your ears & listen closely, the lyrics are dark--real dark. As lyrics conclude, the instruments descend into a cacophony of sonic madness that brings to mind a pod of walruses being, uhmm, assaulted.
Sound insane? That's ARTHUR (government name: Arthur Conall Shea), Philly-based solo artist whose experimental tunes sound like a mashup of Daniel Johnson, Wesley Willis, R.E.M., Steve Lacy & some 5th thing, perhaps a jingle-writer for rejected '80s TV commercials or a modern day self-help guru/cult. His lyrics are sarcastic & biting yet also melancholy & genuine and at times hilarious, painting a picture of a socially awkward lonely man who lives by his own rules & marches to his own drum. Yet there's an undercurrent of seething anger just beneath the surface too.
A sample of the lyrics from "Simple Song":
"I don’t have patience, all that I know is addiction
All that I know, and all that's clear to me
Is that everything ends, and everyone leaves."
Ouch. Mind you, this is sung in the sunniest, most upbeat tone since Barney's "I Love You" song. From Verse 2:
"During the day, I close the shades
I pretend there’s no sun, I hide from the rays
As many times as I try
It makes its way in, and I start to cry."
🌞
🥲
Due to said joyful tone, it's hard to know if or just how much he's joking with heartbreaking lyrics like this, but as someone with depression I suspect the answer is, "he's fucking not." ARTHUR also has some dope instrumental tracks, such as "Keyboard Song" (creative title!). Other songs like "Wow Fuck," "Food," and "Woof Woof" have equally simplistic titles with a mood & lyrics that are anything but. He even collabs with an uncredited rapper on "Something Sweet". Anyone into experimental folk should give him a listen. His music gets weird without getting obnoxious or trying too hard to be "outsider".
All that I know, and all that's clear to me
Is that everything ends, and everyone leaves."
Ouch. Mind you, this is sung in the sunniest, most upbeat tone since Barney's "I Love You" song. From Verse 2:
"During the day, I close the shades
I pretend there’s no sun, I hide from the rays
As many times as I try
It makes its way in, and I start to cry."
🌞
🥲
Due to said joyful tone, it's hard to know if or just how much he's joking with heartbreaking lyrics like this, but as someone with depression I suspect the answer is, "he's fucking not." ARTHUR also has some dope instrumental tracks, such as "Keyboard Song" (creative title!). Other songs like "Wow Fuck," "Food," and "Woof Woof" have equally simplistic titles with a mood & lyrics that are anything but. He even collabs with an uncredited rapper on "Something Sweet". Anyone into experimental folk should give him a listen. His music gets weird without getting obnoxious or trying too hard to be "outsider".
.jpg)
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment