As many of us reach a certain age, it’s easy to look across the street, the cubicle, the family photo, the Zoom, and everywhere else to compare ourselves to our contemporaries. Do we have what they have, do we want what they have, do they look at us the same way, does any of this fucking matter? It’s easy to get caught up in, until you realize your path is your own path and it’s defined solely by yourself, and not some broad societal definition.
That’s all in play here on Tempesst’s wondrous new slice of psych-pop, “High On My Own”. It’s the London-via-Australia band’s latest single, another off their forthcoming debut album Must Be A Dream, out September 30 via Pony Recordings, and it rings a bell of perspective in our search for life’s meaning. It sounds pretty fucking sweet, too, so there’s that.
“I grew up near Noosa, a small beach town in Australia,” says Tempesst singer Toma Banjanin. “In my town, a 30-year-old man was typically a family man, with a normal job, a mortgage etc. The kind of guy who had a balanced life and what seemed to be contentment as a byproduct. These guys had beliefs, they lived by a code that guided each decision with a brand of certainty that I envy and in my subconscious, this archetype framed the kind of firm identity one should expect to acquire by age 30. A couple of decades on, here I am, 30, still wandering, without the beliefs or certainty I expected to have.”
Sounds like he’s doing just fine, thanks.