B-Side Guys

Identity exacts payment. This uncomfortable truth forms the gravitational center of “Be,” the focus track from Darker Lighter’s self-titled full-length album. Created entirely by multi-instrumentalist Salar Rajabnik, the composition builds a textural cathedral around a deceptively simple existential calculation: authenticity requires sacrifice.

Released May 2nd, the track achieves remarkable instrumental density despite its solo-artist genesis. Rajabnik’s ability to perform every instrument himself results in a meticulously orchestrated soundscape where heavy guitar distortion coexists with delicate string arrangements—creating aural parallels to the song’s thematic tensions between resistance and conformity.

Opening with the admonishment to “Stop thinking out loud,” the lyrics immediately establish social pressure toward self-censorship. This command proves especially significant given Rajabnik’s personal context of biculturalism and socio-political activism, suggesting that visible differentiation from dominant cultural norms invites punishment. The warning that “you’ll never come down if you stay this proud” functions both as threat and prophecy—revealing how marginalized identities often face isolation as the price for refusing assimilation.

What distinguishes “Be” from similar examinations of alienation is its unflinching accountability. Rather than simply criticizing external forces, Rajabnik acknowledges personal responsibility in lines like “You’re only making it harder to cope/You’re busy digging yourself in a hole.” This dual perspective creates a compelling psychological landscape where self-protection competes with self-expression, mirroring internal debates familiar to anyone navigating cultural boundaries.

The track’s sonic approach draws from shoegaze tradition without becoming derivative. Buried vocals emerge periodically from instrumental density, creating moments of lyrical clarity that punctuate the surrounding emotional turbulence. This production choice reinforces the thematic struggle to communicate authentic identity within environments designed to obscure individual voice.

Most powerful is the track’s ultimate conclusion: “The price you pay is who you have to be.” This statement transforms the titular imperative from external demand into internal recognition. The repetition of “Be” in the chorus shifts from command to contemplation, ultimately arriving at resigned acceptance. Rajabnik elaborates that this sentiment emerges from “feeling out of place…whether ideologically, artistically or socially, often due to being unwilling to compromise my identity or principles.”

Through this exploration of belonging’s true cost, “Be” becomes more than artistic expression—it stands as financial documentation, meticulously recording the psychological taxation imposed on those who refuse identity compromise for conditional acceptance.