simple socks is the solo project of Iggy San Pablo, who is also the vocalist of Manila-based indie rock band Rusty Machines. On his debut EP, Joanna Drive – presumably the name of the street on which he now lives on his own – simple socks chronicles the tidal tumult of growing up and growing out of your room in your parents’ house, juxtaposed against an ingrained, aversive fear of being on your own and alone.
He ticks off the tallies of all the places where he has noticed the sand in the hourglass running low, evident in the line “The pavement’s rough, but I know I need to move along” on “Training Wheels.” He keeps track of all his feats and frailties, like on “Indeed,” when he says “I’ve been writing different versions of all my contributions / What makes me stand out,” taking stock of the status of his façade as a working (and functioning) member of society while inwardly and introspectively cursing and condemning the societal expectations and regulations that made him do so. He corroborates this later on the same song: “I’m warming up to the thought that my fear of losing face was my undoing.”
On “House Chores”, he captures the state of his mentation and mentality by contextualizing it in his reluctance to do simple house chores that do not feel simple at all when he is doing them alone. It’s a slow, creeping realization of the magnitude of the responsibility of keeping yourself alive and well. He even breaks the fourth wall at one point, saying “Why am I still singing?” and counting singing as another way he puts off confronting the reality of being an adult. He ends the EP with “It feels like we haven’t done enough, but the truth is we’re doing everything we can do.” This clearly and plainly indicates that he can still muster and extend sympathy to himself and everybody else alive right now who has to work for a living, to live, and to do everything else that makes life livable. He is not trivializing common household chores or adult responsibilities; he just resents the practice and necessity of them.
But you can clearly tell that he is trying to do his best, and at the end of the day, that’s really all you can do. And that’s a kind reminder, don’t you think?
Take a listen to Joanna Drive below.
Written by Leo August
