It’s been pretty cool lately living the actual life of the cartoon dog surrounded by flames, trying to convince ourselves each and every day that yeah, sure, whatever, this is fine, everything is fine. “This is fine,” we tell ourselves between endless doomscroll sessions. “Everything is fine. Totally normal. I love the nightmare box I stare into every second of the day.”
Then we’d usually we’d chime in with a *narrator voice* to counter our silly little thoughts and tell us that everything is not, in fact, fine, but the narrator passed away recently (RIP in peace) and now we’re left to our own naivety. Life is so great. This is fine.
Which brings us to the new single from Boston shimmer-pop band shallow pools, who this week released a slinky new tune called “everything is fine” via ESI Records. And under the surface of the pools’ glistening glow of modern pop is the cold reality that everything totally sucks.
“’everything is fine’ is a reflection of our collective mental state over the last few years,” the band says. “Despite what’s happening in the world, we’re all expected to carry on and pretend to be okay.”
For a little over three minutes, however, we’re transported to shallow pools’ world, where a house-of-mirrors style of sound echoes through their sidewinding sarcasm and magnetic pull. If we’re going to be surrounded by flames, it’s only fitting to have a nearby body of water to keep us from burning to bits.
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