Rocker Waves That Stray (aka Sean MacLean) shares the vulnerability of being locked in the creative process’ cage that is procrastination and self-doubt in a new single and video, “Inside My Head” — available now.
Fusing the best parts of electronica and rock ‘n’ roll, “Inside My Head” gives nod to the distinct sound of early-aughts Brooklyn groups like TV On The Radio, LCD Soundsystem, and The Dirty Projectors. The loops are ethereal, the beats hypnotic, and yet the guitar still rocks, while the lyrics haunt.
I can’t hear it
The music doesn’t play anymore
I can see it
Washed up along the shore
It’s just a letter in a bottle
From the wreck it breaks your neck
And leaves you hanging
on the hard line
The listener gets the sense that the desire to break free from one’s own head is a fight for life itself, and the corresponding video depicts an alternating desperation and ennui. It begins with MacLean in stop-motion ‘trying on’ different identities — a businessman, a homeless person, a rapper, a construction worker — and then shifts to a scene where he’s having his face painted, his eyes closed. The artist gives him fake, painted eyes over his closed eyelids, and he walks the streets like this for a while, eyes still closed, deep inside his own head.
“My hope with the video and lyrics to ‘Inside My Head’ is to strike a chord with artists who are trying to come to terms with their ever-evolving creative process and insecurities,” MacLean says. The song is a collaboration between MacLean, songwriter Gabriel Maciel, guitarist Ezra Perlman, and Belgian producer Dorian Voos (aka Awaike).
Waves That Stray made its debut with a self-titled album in 2017. The music video for the single “Brick By Brick” went viral two days after its release, and the album was featured on Earshot’s Top 10 electronic chart. From there, the Toronto-based artist’s distinctively haunting vocals were featured on U.S. Girls’ track “Rosebud,” which was featured as one of Pitchfork’s best new tracks. Maclean recently shared a stage with U.S. Girls at the established Polaris Prize Awards.
“Inside My Head” is available now.
