“Every path through the past reaches a dead end”. And with that first line of hopelessness, the second single off of Super Cassette’s upcoming debut album is succinctly summarized. The song is an upbeat indie/ pop song, with excellently sung pop vocals, occasionally highlighted with an ethereal dreaming, while uptempo guitar work and drums are juxtaposed against the melancholy lyrics that grapple with the inevitability of life and the depressing and crushing sadness of reality.
The upcoming album, Continue?, is a themed album about a prolonged depressive period experienced by lead singer Max Gerlock, and the album ends with coming out of the depression and finding happiness in connections. These first two singles, however, are the first two tracks on the album and do an amazing job of setting the stage for the listener and guide them into a very relatable path of depression.
The first single, “Continue?” begins by asking if life is worth living and references suicidal ideation. This new single, as mentioned above, begins with the line “every path through the past reaches a dead end”, but also entertains lyrics about the inevitability that every joyful child loses their happiness, has their dreams crushed and destroyed. Before the final verse we are hit with a strong power-pop riff that resolves nicely into a final verse about seeing someone’s face and only seeing the natural cycles that are to come, before the song resolves on a somber and ethereal statement and the music fades out with distortion- “things will just get worse”.
This final sentence feels powerful as it’s delivered. The juxtaposition of the upbeat tempo and pop rhythms with the heavy and depressing lyrics, that are genuine and relatable to so many people who have experienced, or are experiencing depression, is a perfect balance. I am excited to hear more and follow on this journey into, through, and out of depression, but I’ll have to wait for the album to drop on December 1st.
The video can be found here and the album can be pre-ordered from here.
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Written by Gimpleg