B-Side Guys

I love the visual style of this video. Parts of it remind me of those old flash videos on NewGrounds.com and part of it is a genius multimedia project that combines pictures, live drawn art, and movement. It’s really beautiful. The other really essential element to this song is the lyrics. Let’s dive into what makes them so effective:

“And I’m ever grown in a wood of gold
And I can’t be told when to call or fold
And I’m always talking and I can’t shut up
And I’m awful flawed but I’ve mastered stuff
And I think you’re cool.. you’re.. you’re.. you’re really nice like”

The whole song mixes a sense of poetry (as you can see in the repetition and anaphora) and conversational tone ( as you can see with the seeming stutter). This gives the song an understandable but simultaneously complex and abstract vibe. The whole first half of the song seems to be a listing off of shortcomings or anxieties, while the last half is a thank you letter:

“And it’s you that was constant you killed my concerns
It was you that was constant you killed my concerns
You should know you resurrected my trust
It was you that was constant this love is a must
(Spoken)
And if you were my only fan I’d never stop making music,
And you’re the only one pulling me through this
And I really should be saying this out loud but I can’t and
For now I’m just a ghost I’m just a phantom … ”

This whole section seems like it’s leading into a love note, but then we get the subversion of that at the end, and we see that he hasn’t said this to this person at all. He’s just a “ghost” or a “phantom”. I also really like that we get that classic movie moment in the video, when it ends with a girl picking up the phone trying to connect, but he’s already gone. It’s a very relatable theme of Unrequited Love (which we did a podcast episode on).

 

Bio: Sea High is a multi instrumentalist rapper and singer-songwriter from Ireland, using homegrown beats made by himself and O’B1 from Off Key Collective, a grassroots label that they co-founded

Sea High takes hip hop and uses it to convey abstract, conceptual themes of love, hate and everything inbetween.

LUV. Is an unsent message to a special someone that takes your breath, words and worries away.

 

-Caleb

Want to hear more music? We’ve added this song and more to our August TOTD Spotify Playlist.