B-Side Guys

“I’m treading water yes I’m turning blue”—the repetition feels like drowning in reverse, each iteration pulling Shawn Tallet’s protagonist deeper into a Barcelona reverie that refuses resolution. Shoreline Gold’s latest single doesn’t fight the undertow; it surrenders to it completely.

The track opens with guitar tones that feel sun-bleached and wine-stained, immediately establishing the disoriented wanderer’s perspective. Tallet’s production choices echo his literary background—every ambient texture serves narrative purpose, building the “kaleidoscope of solitude” his lyrics describe. The reverb-drenched vocals drift like memories half-recalled, while analog-inspired synthesizers create that “rainbow stream” of consciousness flowing through El Raval’s neon-lit streets.

Austin’s distance from Barcelona becomes irrelevant when Tallet inhabits this European displacement so convincingly. “My wallet’s gone, no I don’t have the time” captures travel’s peculiar vulnerability—the way being unmoored can feel simultaneously liberating and terrifying. His delivery of “I’m unconcerned, no I’ll just let it be” carries the forced casualness of someone trying to convince themselves they’re okay with being lost.

The song’s architecture mirrors its thematic content: verses that spiral inward, a chorus that admits defeat while embracing it. That Neil Young comparison feels earned—both artists understand how to make resignation sound like revelation. But where Young’s protagonists often rage against their circumstances, Tallet’s narrator finds something approaching peace in disconnection.

“Forgotten Song” functions as both title and thesis. The track itself feels like something you might half-remember from a dream, its melodic fragments familiar yet elusive. Tallet’s chord voicings avoid obvious progressions, creating harmonic spaces that feel lived-in rather than constructed. The result is music that doesn’t demand attention so much as invite immersion.

By the final repetition of “I’m treading water yes I’m turning blue,” the line has transformed from distress signal to mantra. Shoreline Gold has created something rare: a surrender that feels like victory.