Editor’s Note: Welcome to Quarantainment, Vanyaland’s new series on what to watch, what to hear, and how to deal as the world engages in social distancing to combat the spread of coronavirus, or COVID-19. We’re all at home, we’re all online, and we’re all in this together. #StayTheFHome
This year has been an absolute mindfuck. Social distancing has created new layers of loneliness, the news is a non-stop horror show, and even silver linings have faded to a dull gray. It’s getting tougher and tougher to cut through the darkness and experience some sort of jubilation and personal excitement, but Shallow Pools have provided a soundtrack to navigate the waves of emotion that relentlessly crash down around us.
The brilliant Boston alt-pop band are back today (April 24) with another stunner of a single, their third such banger of 2020. It’s called “Afterlight,” and it follows SOTY contender “Haunted” and February’s “Bloom.” This new Shallow Pools joint finds the group experimenting with darker synth sounds, with its lyrical twirl exploring feelings of loneliness and our constant struggle to overcome insecurities.
And yet like all recent Shallow Pools tracks, there’s a gush of hope and positivity breaking through in the seams, an unspoken promise that better times await once we figure out the mental puzzle of right now. It’s the type of song that runs through your head the moment before everything ‘clicks’.
Do some IRL clicking in the meantime by firing up “Afterlight,” and ride the beautiful wave that is Shallow Pools’ brand of impassioned alternative-pop.