Mixtapemotions

  • “we fell in love in october” by girl in red, Friday, October 25, 2024

    Each generation has an “Are you a friend of Dorothy?” question. Throughout the 20th century, queer people, particularly gay men, asked the question to discretely inquire if another person was also queer. The Dorothy in question was the character Dorothy in L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz series, particularly because of the star of the first book’s film adaptation, Judy Garlin. The actress and singer was well-known for her LGBTQ+ advocacy at a time when speaking about same-sex relationships was considered taboo and homosexual practices were illegal in many parts of the world. Garlin played Dorothy Gale in The Wizzard of Oz and then became a beloved icon in the gay community for her vulnerability, resilience, and status as a misunderstood, tragic figure. Garland’s personal struggles, combined with her connection to Dorothy’s character, cemented her as a gay icon.


    SMOKING CIGARETTES ON THE ROOF. Today, gay men don’t commonly ask each other “Are you a friend of Dorothy” because of greater acceptance and other covert ways of finding each other. An interesting similar trend emerged on TikTok in the ‘20s in which users would ask each other “Do you listen to girl in red?” The question had a double meaning. Norwegian singer-songwriter Marie Ulven Ringheim goes by the name girl in red. The question was also referring to Ulven’s sexual orientation and the singer’s followers. Marie talked about the trend on the Zach Sang Show, saying that the trend originated online but she incorporated it as a marketing technique to promote her music. She said that particularly in countries with restrictive LGBTQ+ policies, such as Poland and Brazil, her marketing team used the question for fans to discreetly meet each other. Marie built her career in her bedroom, mostly teaching herself piano, guitar, and music production starting at 14. Posting recordings on SoundCloud proved successful for girl in red whose streaming numbers reached impressive numbers with the singles “girls” and “summer depression.”


    YOU WILL BE MY WORLD. Themes in girl in red’s lyrics include discussions of mental health, heartbreak, and love. Marie Ulven writes love songs using third-person “she/her” pronouns as well as mentioning girls by name–pseudonyms according to her Zach Sang interview.  One of girl in red’s most popular songs is “we fell in love in october.” The 2018 single details Marie’s first love. The cozy instrumentation of the mellow rock song illustrates the coldness of the month and the warmth of a new interesting lover. The simple lyrics solidify the autumn mood of the song. With “we fell in love in october,” girl in red released a sequel to the original song’s narrative, “October passed me by.” The sequel is more mature and deals with the aftermath of when the infatuation passes. Both songs talk about watching the stars on a clear October night and the latter regrets when Marie “made me my whole world,” but resolves of her first love: “In the back of my mind, you will always be my girl.” All successful singer-songwriters express themselves authentically and girl in red’s authenticity certainly has widened her fanbase beyond the LGBTQ+ community. While not everyone can understand the experience of same-sex attraction, honest songwriting, and catchy music are relatable to everyone. So you can listen to girl in red without listening to girl in red.


    Read the lyrics on Genius.

     

  • “Anything But Me” by MUNA, Thursday, October 24, 2024 (repost)

     

    In 2020, MUNA was dropped by their label RCA for “not making enough money.” The queer-identifying trio had modest success with their first two records,  About U and Saves the World, but they would actually achieve a higher level of success on an indie label. The key to this renewed success was partnering with an indie rock darling who had come to be known as a “serial collaborator” due to appearing on a range of projects from Paul McCartney to Taylor Swift. Phoebe Bridgers signed MUNA to her label Saddest Factory and functioned as the trio’s A&R person. MUNA quickly expanded their listener base with the hit featuring Bridgers, “Silk Chiffon.” The song preceded  MUNA’s eponymous album by more than nine months and became the band’s most-streamed song. In March of 2022, MUNA released the second single from the album, “Anything But Me.”

    YOU’RE GONNA SAY I ASKED FOR THE MOON. While MUNA is certainly overshadowed by Phoebe Bridgers and her own trio, boygenius, touring with Bridgers helped MUNA gain recognition. The band opened for Kacey Musgraves on her star-crossed tour in 2021-2022 and opened for Lorde on the Australian leg of her Solar Power tour. The band recounts hearing the crowd sing along to “Silk Chiffon” on the star-crossed tour in a Rolling Stone article. The band performed their first set at Coachella and had an opening spot on maybe the biggest tour of all time, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. Musically, though, MUNA has yet to match their biggest hit, the lead single from MUNA. “Silk Chiffon” fits the role of the positive song on an otherwise dark record. However, MUNA is far more positive than its predecessors. Today’s song, “Anything But Me,” isn’t about crippling depression like a similar track on Saves the World, “Stayaway.” Both songs are about a breakup, but “Anything But Me” feels like an amount of healthy processing has occurred. Whether the friendship stated in “Anything But Me” is genuine or not, the sentiment of wishing an ex the best feels sincere. 


    I’M GONNA CRY FOR THE LOVE WE COULDN’T KEEP. The music video for “Anything But Me” depicts the members of MUNA in various restraints in every scene. I personally find the video uncomfortable to watch, especially compared to the song’s bright ‘90s acoustic alternative rock tone. The imagery seems to be a clear representation of a suffocating relationship. When lead singer Katie Gavin sings the bridge: “I’d rather lose you than who I’m meant to be” the message of the song is cemented. No relationship is worth the cost of losing who you are. This painful clarity may take a lot of time, especially in queer relationships when friendship, sex, and love can be blurred. In MUNA Gavin has talked about being in a band with her ex both in interviews and in the closing track of Saves the World, “It’s Gonna Be Okay, Baby.” Gavin broke up with bandmate Naomi McPherson before signing with RCA Records. The tension in MUNA’s songwriting feels like it comes from a place of confusion of feelings, though perhaps not from the Gavin-McPherson relationship. We don’t know what this song is really about, but we do know that it’s about cutting out the toxicity in your life. After all, it’s not worth being strangled!


    Music video:




    Audio:

    Live on Ellen:

     

  • “October Skies” by Waking Ashland, Wednesday, October 23, 2024

     

    Since I wrote about Waking Ashland last January, lead singer Johnathan Jones has given an interview with HM Magazine’s Black Sheep Podcast.  It’s worth a listen to get a little more insight into this somewhat obscure Tooth & Nail band. One of the most beloved tracks in the band’s discography, “October Skies,” is a sentimental track on Waking Ashland’s debut album Composure. The song evokes the colors and crisp feeling of Autumn as well as the symbolism of death and eventual rebirth that the season means to the cycle of the seasons. The beautiful guitar and piano-driven song isn’t very deep. The lyrics have Christian undertones with the speaker “surrendering” to an unnamed “you” as well as mention of church bells evoking an idyllic New England or Appalachian fall. 



  • “Crazy Mary” by FM Static, Tuesday, October 22, 2024

    Last year Both Good Christian Fun and Church Jams Now celebrated the twentieth anniversary of FM Static’s 2003 debut album, What Are You Waiting For? The album produced several Christian Rock hits including “Something to Believe In” and “Crazy Mary” and the band shot a video for the song “Definitely Maybe.” The song “Something to Believe In” was the lone song formulated on the album in which the band cynically rejects religion in search of “a new focus, a new destination.” “Definitely Maybe” sounds like an ‘03 update of a John Hughes movie’s plot, and with its controversial name-drop of being “At the movie theater watching Harry Potter” feels like a tonal departure from the album’s “spiritual highlight.”

     

    POINTING AS THEY LAUGH AND STARE AT HER. FM Static’s debut single was “Crazy Mary.” Good Christian Fun and Church Jams Now made a similar point about the song. The lyrics aim to be compassionate toward a homeless woman but when other people “laugh and call her names.” The speaker, however, also calls the “slow girl who looks up to no one” the same name that everyone else does “Crazy Mary,” thus reducing her to a stereotype rather than a real person. Essentially, she’s the object lesson of a sermon. She’s the person you can encounter in the soup kitchen on Thanksgiving and Christmas and pray she finds her way. What’s even worse is that she’s an alcoholic. Maybe she fried her brain on drugs. Maybe she has schizophrenia. The best solution is to get her into the church soup kitchen so that she can learn about Jesus and stop drinking “a cold one.” Maybe the biggest problem with the song is Main Character Syndrome. The chorus spells it out:

      Maybe if I took a little time to talk 

    Then she could heal a little if she wants to. 

    She can run but let’s teach her how to walk away now. 

    WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR A COLD ONE. I’m being hard on FM Static’s “Crazy Mary,” which is not entirely fair. Most of the songs are written from the perspective of a super clean church teen. The problem with the song is that one church kid and one church’s soup kitchen don’t solve the systemic problem that creates “Crazy Marys.” What causes people on the margins to fall off? What causes addictions that cripple a person? Which people are susceptible? How do race, sexual orientation, and prior economic class factor into these problems? The Christian charity solution to the homeless often aims to undermine the government solutions. Pastors urge congregants to vote for politicians who support the wealthy and cripple the poor. They tell narratives about “Crazy Mary” who is struggling with the demon of alcoholism and just needs to come to church where the church can support her so that she can eventually become self-sufficient. I’m not arguing that the church shouldn’t be part of the solution. But it’s worrying with the church’s political force aiming to monopolize charity by demonizing government and secular charities. What if “Crazy Mary” were gay? Would they love and support her choices, or would the donations stop? Is the gift conditional?


     Read the lyrics on Genius.

  • “Fear” (겁) by Mino ft. Taeyang, Monday, October 21, 2024

    In season three of the South Korean hip-hop reality program Show Me the Money, winner BOBBY showed that K-pop idols can be taken seriously as rappers. Previous seasons had eliminated rappers from idol groups quite early in the competition, but iKON’s Bobby won the season. This victory by a rapper of a boy band set up season four, in which Song Min-ho, known professionally as Mino was a fan favorite. The singer, rapper, and songwriter Mino began his career in a ballad group called BoM before joining YG Entertainment and debuting with the group WINNER in 2014 after he won a spot in the group on the show WIN: Who Is Next. The next year, Mino was on the fourth season of Show Me the Money, on which he was the show’s runner-up. 

    WHEN I TURNED AROUND, I SAW THAT I CAME FARTHER THAN I THOUGHT. Each season of Show Me the Money contestants compete through various rap battles, performances, and challenges, with the ultimate goal of becoming the season’s champion. The format typically includes multiple producers (well-known rappers and producers in the Korean hip-hop scene) who serve as mentors for the contestants. These producer teams guide and collaborate with the participants, helping them to refine their skills and craft original tracks. Influential Korean rappers like Zion.T, The Quiett, Jay Park, and Zico have served as mentors on the show. Show Me the Money Season 4 (2015) was one of the most highly anticipated and impactful seasons of the series, partly due to the involvement of high-profile contestants and producers. Mino was one of the standout contestants in Season 4. His participation generated huge attention because of his idol background. Despite initial skepticism about an idol rapper competing in a hardcore hip-hop show, Mino proved his skills and charisma, ultimately becoming the runner-up. His performances, especially “Fear” (겁)  featuring Taeyang of BIGBANG, became iconic and highly praised.

    I PRACTICED ABOUT SEVERAL THOUSAND TIMES. WINNER shared a label with BIGBANG as well as iKON. After placing second on Season 4 of Show Me the Money, Mino joined with labelmate BOBBY of iKON to form the duo MOBB. Korean Hip-Hop record labels function differently from idol labels which often include more labelmate promotion than cross-label collaboration, Mino honored label mates with his collaborations. One of the highlights of Season 4 was Mino’s collaboration with BIGBANG’s Taeyang on the song “Fear.” Known for his R&B singing, Taeyang isn’t a rapper but is closely associated with the genre because of his close friendship and frequent outside collaboration with BIGBANG’s band leader and rapper G-DRAGON. In 2015, BIGBANG’s status as a veteran boyband held a more hardened and cool reputation than a fresh-faced boyband like WINNER. With “Fear,” Taeyang passes on the “cool” torch and aims to legitimize Mino as a rapper. The introspective lyrics of “Fear” detail Mino’s fear of loneliness and the pressure of public life. The song endeared him to his audience, gave him lasting power as a rapper, and got audiences to consider the talent behind idol groups. 


     

  • “Pleasure Shop” by Key, Sunday, October 20, 2024


    Since Key’s 2021 EP Bad Love, The SHINee singer has been creating dark pop with nostalgic ‘80s and ‘90s sci-fi motifs. The singer’s latest installment came last month with his third mini album Pleasure Shop. In the EP’s eponymous lead single, Key takes on the form of a cyborg, inviting futuristic humans to come “deeper into” a store filled with unique things to give a person pleasure. The cyborg invites the humans “pleasure juice,” which gives them a kind of euphoria. Kim Ki-bum conceptualized the mini album when thinking about a dystopian future. He asked the question giving a press statement just before the EP’s release: “What if I uploaded myself, turned it into an AI program and had an argument with my AI version? How scary would it be if that AI version of me was better than the real me?”


    YOU’RE WELCOME. Entering the eerie “Pleasure Shop” Key has opened for listeners draws an uncanny similarity to a line from the 1973 spooky musical classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, in which two newly engaged lovers breakdown in front of a house occupied by Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a “sweet transvestite from the planet Tansexual in the galaxy of Transylvania.”  When lovers Brad and Janet wander into the house, Frank-N-Furter beckons the lovers: “Give yourself over to absolute pleasure.” The invitation isn‘t dissimilar from the cyborg in “Pleasure Shop” who invites customers to “surrender to me.” The pleasure offered in Key’s latest single isn’t overtly sexual—it’s essentially asexual, void of any feelings of reciprocation. What is left is for the user to use or pervert in any way that person chooses. 


    I’M HAPPY WHEN YOU’RE HAPPY. It seems that movies,books, and culture have programmed us against the ideas of utopia. We often get uncomfortable with  the promise of pleasure because we are always thinking about ulterior motives. That’s what makes Key’s “Pleasure Shop”  creepy. Can we trust the emotionless shopkeeper? And while the program may be emotionless, we begin to worry who is behind the code and collecting our data and what that party will do with that information. The worry is that AI will replace human workers. Human jobs are the casualty of every revolution; however, revolution creates new jobs for humans to fill. The 1950s didn’t eliminate housework. Blacksmiths were traded for auto mechanics. We may have had fantasies as kids about robots doing all of our chores, but what does that mean when a person’s income requires labor? Do we become managers of the robots or merely in their way? Or is the future far bleaker?



    Read the English translation on Genius. 

    Read the Korean lyrics on Genius.

    Official music video:

    Dance practice video:

  • “Fainted Love” by Conan Gray, Saturday, October 19, 2024



    Conan Gray’s Found Heaven is possibly one of the most under-rated albums of the year. The pop world of 2024 is dominated by powerful women and so is rock and alternative. Looking at the list of albums this year, there is one big one that seems overrated—Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets’ Department—but every single artist with a big year, Swift included, has earned it. But with all of the big pop artists this year, Conan Gray hasn’t yet had a breakthrough moment. Found Heaven is far from a perfect album but its post-punk style and Gray’s conviction in songwriting make this one of the albums I keep coming back to all year. 


    DON’T MEAN THAT YOU’RE MARRYING ME TONIGHT. Part of Conan Gray’s conviction to his sound, I feel, is a reason why Found Heaven isn’t a bigger pop album, and maybe why it isn’t as good as it could be. Gray doesn’t do many collaborations and he explained that he felt that his latest album is complete. I feel that a well-chosen collaboration could have brought more fans to discover Gray’s music and could have made the album’s middle section more memorable. The middle tracks on the album are very well-written and the album keeps a consistency to it; however, some of the songs feel like they are missing an edge. And not all of the collaborators have to be singers. Solidly in the post-punk landscape, Gray’s album could use a little more length with its instrumentals. I’d love to hear a few guitar solos on the album—maybe a saxophone. Take for example the  non-single “Fainted Love.” The song is the third track on the album after two very different sounding tracks, the title track and the single  “Never Ending Song.” The album’s third track stands out from the other tracks because it is the first occurance of ‘80s synth pop meets post punk. The song’s synths opening arpeggio paints a dark landscape similar to Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer,” setting Gray’s song on a “ghost town on a Saturday night.”


    IT’S ENOUGH TO SURVIVE. “Fainted Love” shows a possibility for a niche that Conan Gray could fill: glam rock post punk rock pop star. Vocal cracks show earnestness in personal lyrics about a lover who is not at their best due to untold personal problems. Gray doesn’t care about that, though, resolving that “Fainted Love” is enough. The song is one of the best on the album, but I think it also highlights a problem with the album—Gray’s lack of commitment to rock and ultimately contemporary pop styles that would sell the album to either audience. I wish that the song had a Journey-style guitar solo. The 2:51 song feels like it needs more room to breathe. In fact, all of the songs on the album are short, the longest one is the closing ballad “Winner” clocking in at 3:37. In the age of Tik-Tok sound clips so many songs are cut short. With so many songs released every year, keeping songs short may help listeners with short attention spans to get through more tracks; however, there seems to be a missed opportunity for listeners to immerse themselves and live in the songs. While Gray has finished the album and has moved on to a new chapter, I would certainly like a reimagined or deluxe edition. 








     

  • “Inconsolable” by Katie Gavin, Friday, October 18, 2024



    Katie Gavin’s solo debut album What a Relief is due out next week on October 25th. The MUNA singer showed a change in musical direction from her first single “Aftertaste,” which took the electric-pop singer into ‘90s country. The second single, “Casual Drug Use,” took a more acoustic folk sound than its predecessor. In August Gavin joined The Japanese House on stage at the Greek Theater to perform their collaboration “Morning Papers” from The Japanese House’s 2023 album In the End It Always Does. Then during the encore, Gavin premiered her latest single, “Inconsolable,” which The Japanese House’s Amber Bain praised as “the best song ever written” according to Bain and her girlfriend. According to MUNA’s podcast Gayotic, Gavin said that her new album was a collection of songs written since 2020. Most of the songs were produced by Phoebe Bridgers’ producer Tony Berg, but between sessions with Berg, Gavin collaborated with Mitski and Amber Bain.


    FULL OF BEDS WHERE NOBODY CUDDLED. “Inconsolable” amplified the country vibes of “Aftertaste” in Katie Gavin’s vocal stylings and the song’s instrumentation. The song opens with a fiddle and an acoustic guitar. Fiddle flourishes—played by Gavin—give the song a bluegrass twang throughout the song. Lyrically, the country song details a family line of “inconsolable” relatives who “don’t know how to love” and a “whole huddle of households full of beds where nobody cuddled.” These lines connect the song to the honest lyricism in country music. The song’s simple music video features footage of Gavin singing with a video backdrop of people in the house moving about, in a kind of Americana scene. The beginning scene shows children with sparklers signifying summer. As the video goes on, viewers notice that the faces of the people in the music video have sad or disappointed looks on their faces. But arguably the most country line in the song is: “I’ve seen baby lizards run into the river when they open their eyes / Even though no one taught them how or why.” This line is so oddly specific to a rural setting and Gavin delivers the line with the strongest twang we’ve heard yet. 


    I KNOW WHY YOU WON’T LET ME INSIDE. Gavin’s vocals also twang, a style commonly heard in country music. Recently, artists such as Ed Sheeran, Lana Del Rey, Beyoncé, and Shawn Mendes have either announced country projects or have released country songs. Pop stars have often flirted with the Nashville sound in the past, but a Country music reassurance, especially one that is unauthorized by the Country Music Association, is interesting. Country music has deep roots in rural white communities in the southern United States. The genre’s image has often been associated with white, working-class, conservative values.  The country music audience and industry also have historically valued a narrow definition of authenticity. There has been a tendency to equate traditional country with a specific set of cultural norms, often excluding those who don’t fit within those boundaries. For example, Black, LGBTQ+, and non-white artists are sometimes viewed as outside the “authentic” country mold, despite their talent and contributions. The combination of cultural roots, perceptions of authenticity, industry gatekeeping, and market focus has contributed to the difficulty diverse groups face in gaining acceptance within country music, though far more diverse artists are taking to the country sound. That being said, the industry doesn’t patent a sound and anyone can make country-sounding music. For Katie Gavin, the singer describes her first solo album as “stripped away from MUNA” and “bringing it back to her musical roots.” Afterall, doesn’t one’s experience dictate their culture more than the people who accept them in that culture?”








     

  • “Final Girl” by CHVRCHES, Thursday, October 17, 2024

    The “Final Girl” trope in horror movies, coined by film theorist Carol J. Clover in her 1992 book Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film, refers to the last female character left alive at the end of the film, who confronts and often defeats the killer or monster. This character has become a significant archetype in slasher and horror films. The trope originated in the 1970s and became especially popular in the 1980s with movies like Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980), and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). When crafting their concept album Screen Violence, inspired by horror films, CHVRCHES’ songwriter and frontwoman Lauren Mayberry explores the trope, setting it in real life rather than a work of fiction in the song “Final Girl.” The song is a pivotal track on Screen Violence with the band selling Final Girl shirts and Mayberry wearing the t-shirt in concerts as pictured in the lyric photo.

    DOES SHE LOOK LIKE ME? There are several key features to the “Final Girl” trope. First, she is the sole survivor or among the last few survivors of the killer’s spree, usually managing to outwit or kill the antagonist in the climax. Next, traditionally, the Final Girl is depicted as more “innocent” or morally virtuous compared to her peers, especially in contrast to other characters who may engage in reckless behavior like drinking, drug use, or promiscuity. This has led to critiques that the trope enforces conservative values. Third, she shows a transformation in the film. Throughout the movie, the Final Girl often evolves from a vulnerable, frightened character to a strong, resourceful, and proactive one, displaying both intelligence and courage. Fourth, she often shows masculine traits. Some interpretations suggest the Final Girl exhibits masculine qualities, like wielding weapons or taking on a protector role, which helps her survive in situations where others fail. Carol J. Clover’s analysis in her 1992 book highlighted how the Final Girl often acts as a point of identification for both male and female viewers. She argued that the trope subverts traditional gender roles because the audience, regardless of gender, is encouraged to empathize with the female character’s experience as she transitions from victim to hero. Finally, the Final Girl often has a psychological link with the killer. In many cases, the Final Girl has a deeper connection to the killer, whether it’s personal knowledge, an indirect relationship, or a symbolic link. This adds emotional weight to their final confrontation.

    I WONDER IF I SHOULD’VE CHANGED MY ACCENT. In CHVRCHES’ “Final Girl,” lead singer Lauren Mayberry talks about expectations placed upon women and reflects on her own decisions as a woman in music. Comparing the music industry to a horror film in which women have an expiration date, Mayberry, in the chorus, questions whether she should “quit, maybe go get married.” She says, “I wonder if I should’ve changed my accent.” Chvrches is a Scottish band and Mayberry speaks with a Scottish accent. Her singing voice doesn’t have regional markings, though. Many times public figures are pressured to sound more refined, not showing their regional dialect in their voices, whether it is a posh British or a TV American accent. Is Mayberry’s regret that she doesn’t sound Scottish or that she should sound less Scottish? Then she wonders if she should have “tried to make [herself] more attractive.” It’s a common question people wonder about themselves but in the context of “Final Girl,” the question of attractiveness is key to outlasting the others in a horror film. The music business has traditionally held a double standard, only signing beautiful women to contracts when men often don’t have to look as good to front a band. The chorus resolves with  “Only time will tell.” The music business pushes most people out of it before they can become veterans, but it seems that Mayberry wants to sustain a music career. She’s in it for the long run, but surviving the killer takes wit, charm, looks, charisma, and talent. If you can’t hold on to it, you won’t be the final girl. 


    Official Audio: 
    Live Performance: 

     

  • “My House” by Pvris, Wednesday, October 16, 2024

    When the five-piece metalcore band Pvris entered the studio to record their debut album, they radically changed their sound. Today, lead singer Lyndsey Gunnulfsen, known as Lynn Gunn, is the only remaining group member. Pvris’ debut 2014 White Noise incorporates pop and electronic elements into a mostly rock sound. The band formed in Lowell, Massachusetts and lead singer Gunn has had a lifelong fascination with the supernatural, which she partly credits to the geography around her. The band’s second single, “My House” uses the setting of a spooky house as a metaphor for a person who won’t leave the speaker in peace. 

    I HEARD YOU DOWN THE HALL. One of the most common fears is the feeling of being watched by a stranger. It’s a particularly eerie feeling when at home. Thinking of one’s most intimate moments stolen by glances or words uttered in secret overheard can drive a person to madness. It’s a story that ends up on the local news or the plot of a horror movie, and the metaphor Lynn Gunn explores in the song “My House.” The song builds on the lure of the haunted houses of New England, a point of fascination for Gunn. Lowell, Massachusetts, alone has several rumored haunted locations from The Worthen House Cafe, a pub frequented by Edgar Allen Poe and Jack Kerouac and known for its mysterious footsteps and strange noises to the Lowell Cemetary, known for its strange lights and noises, these places boast of ghosts from America’s colonial period to the present day. Lowell is close to other rumored haunted places like Amytiville and Salam. The black and white music video for “My House” is a short horror film with ghosts, candles, and flying objects, all with an unnerving effect of color washing in front of the video as if the music video is found footage of a haunting.

    YOU’RE AT MY BEDROOM DOOR. While “My House” could be about a literal haunted house, Pvris’s Lynn Gunn compares the imagery to the feeling of taking control of one’s life. The demons of toxic relationships that bring out the worst in us–addictions, low self-esteem, lethargy–take our focus off of our goals. The house is a metaphor for one’s life. A house can be overrun by guests invited or uninvited but one often has the power to expel those unwanted guests. The song is an attempted exorcism of all the negative energy left by abusive individuals. Getting back control is paramount, and “My House” is a powerful metaphor for that moment when one realizes that he or she has the power to change.