As the global pandemic changes the face of our world, some artists are relishing in the quarantine and putting out music to get us to the other side.
Park Butterworth, known simply as Park, released his debut single “Truman” last week and it is a dreamy distraction from our current state of affairs. Framed within lush synthesizers and an airy earworm of a chorus, “Truman” will burrow its way into your skull and leave you excited for a new artist finding his sound. Here’s what Park had to say about Truman:
“Sometime during that process [of recording “Truman”] the Coronavirus got much more serious and I had to begin working from home, and not leaving the house. I remember making the correlation to feeling like Truman from “The Truman Show” ; how it felt like everyone was now just existing in their own little worlds. I knew that had to be the focus of the song. When I landed on that subject matter I realized that the idea was drifting further away from being an April Fool’s joke, and something more meaningful. I rented the movie and watched it again one night and saw how many similarities I shared with Truman. He’s always longing for more but never really being able to put a finger on what it is. He’s so extroverted with everyone in the movie, but lives almost a double life on the inside, planning his escape off of Seahaven Island. I feel the same way sometimes. I think we’re all starting to feel this way having to stay at home. The verses tell the story of Truman, while the chorus comes from the novel “Brave New World.” There’s a ‘song‘ in the book that the people sing to each other when they’re stressed, or want attention from someone, or just want to escape on a ‘Soma Holiday’ I loved those 4 lines of their little song. So I took them, reworded them a bit, and put a melody to them to create the chorus for Truman. The song ends much like the movie, and much like the ending of Brave New World. With Truman finally reaching the edge of his world, walking the stairs to a world he’s never known, and facing it with a kind of…shaky confidence. I wanted to portray that moment in the same way musically.”
Fall into the world of “Truman” below, and follow Park on Spotify here.
