Heavy Life is the second single out from ‘Life Happened’ by True Sleeper, the solo project of Marco Barzetti, formerly leader of Weird. – one of the most successful Italian shoegaze bands – and guitarist/lyricist for the international psych maven Sonic Jesus.
In the middle of a cold winter, two lone children climb a parallel path, wandering through the snowscapes apparently looking for something. Is it a flashback or just another fantasy? Or is it real?
True Sleeper tailors an enthralling round dance of verse and chorus, a neat remodeling of the usual rock ballad, this time revisited in his own style. The dreamy guitars are still there, making way for a martial, almost primitive drumming and a pulsating, vibrant bass, while a softer touch is delivered by the mellowness of both the Solina synth and the original 60s Farfisa organ.
It is a romantic song indeed, yet shaded by an inner angst impossible to solve: a sense of existential heaviness inherited from the past, still haunting the present events.
«There is a strong desire to let the old ghosts go, but the narrator is still imprisoned by his own expectations, fears and nightmares. ‘Very soon I’ll walk alone’ as the first line says, mirrored by the kids in the video who approach the climbing on their own: it’s a longing for being independent and grown-up beyond all the adversities a frosty mountain can put you through and they seem ready to achieve a full growth despite their young age, though I sing ‘I’m still late, heavy life’. The storyline goes on, finally showing the two getting closer and meeting almost at the top, sharing a similar view (unknown to our eyes) through the binoculars and, once again, I sing that ‘I want to be in your eyes, to see your grace’. It’s all about waiting for a revelation from the outside when actually you should find it within yourself, with the blunt pureness of a child who doesn’t waste his time overthinking or procrastinating.»
A captivating moving tune, Heavy Life will definitely catch the ears of those who love slow-core/dream-pop sounds with an added powerful shoegaze spark: it’s outstanding music that can be hardly labelled, confirming how unique True Sleeper is.
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