It feels like just yesterday that Grubby wrote about Leafboy’s debut album MOLT, but even though it dropped in January, Leafboy (aka Alec Portnoy) is already back with more new music. The New York indie artist released “kit kat clock” on February 17th, along with a video that showcases MOLT’s vibe.
The new single showcases the tender songwriting and instrumentation for which Portnoy has become known, but “kit kat clock” has a steady beat behind the softness, keeping time in a way that would befit a song with “clock” in the title. It’s a blissful piece of music that loops and blossoms over time: Warm keys and synths play up the song’s vulnerability.
And “kit kat clock” is a vulnerable song: Portnoy uses the lyrics to open up about how much he likes someone and how despite anxiety, he feels amazing spending every second that passes by on the kit kat clock with that person. But it’s hard to voice that admiration sometimes. Portnoy’s repeated admissions of “I don’t know what to do” throughout the song show the desire to crawl back into the cocoon, but the track ends with a revelation: “I like you/Like a lot/Like so much, like a little too much/Oh, it makes me a little bit scared/Okay, fine, a lot scared, and I don’t know what to do.”
The accompanying music video shows Portnoy singing the track while getting his head shaved. It encapsulates MOLT’s spirit even though the song does not appear on the album: Here, Portnoy undergoes a transformation, releasing the anxiety holding them back from making statements of love, even if it’s still scary to do so. It’s interesting to see the juxtaposition of the gentleness of “kit kat clock” against Portnoy’s grand gesture of shaving off all his hair. But despite the change, he’s still Leafboy, with the same love in his heart.
Watch the music video for “kit kat clock” below, and follow Leafboy on the socials for updates on more new music coming soon.
Written by Will Sisskind
