B-Side Guys

Underlined Passages name their track after the astronaut from 2001: A Space Odyssey—the scientist who investigates the monolith on the moon, standing at humanity’s threshold of incomprehensible transformation. That reference sets the tone for a song about holding steady while reality bends, about “the thought that won’t end” when you’re caught between understanding and waiting.

The Baltimore duo of Michael Nestor and Jamaal Turner built their reputation on emotionally intense guitar-driven music, and “Heywood Floyd” delivers that through layers of shoegaze distortion that create atmospheric drift. The production sits somewhere between indie rock immediacy and tonal exploration, guitars washing over steady percussion while Nestor’s vocals float through the mix with borderline-wistful restraint.

The lyrics operate in fragments: “We are the light that will bend / We are the thought that won’t end / You know I can’t wait.” That repetition of “I can’t wait” functions as mantra for impatience disguised as patience, the agony of knowing transformation is coming but not when. The second verse shifts perspective—”We know we said, ride the wave / Let go, you can’t fight this fade”—acknowledging that resistance won’t stop whatever’s approaching. You can’t fight the fade, but you can’t wait for it either.

Coming from The Accelerationists album, this track carries the weight of a band that knows how to sit with discomfort. Nestor and Turner recorded their work after enduring profound tragedy—Turner lost his wife in a car accident right before studio sessions began. The record served as their “emotional foundation” for walking through loss. “Heywood Floyd” doesn’t explain what it’s waiting for, doesn’t promise the wait will be worth it. Just acknowledges the unbearable tension of standing at the threshold, watching for the signal that everything’s about to change.