Joyzine has the pleasure of premiering the video to ‘Keep It’ from Chicago-based Evidence of a Struggle. It’s a track taken from their eponymous album and William P C Simmons, the multi-instrumentalist behind the band says:
“‘Keep It’ is the only song on the record with any words attached. I wanted the music to stand on its own for this album. I’ve been acutely aware for a long time that we’re not really listening, not seeing, and it really doesn’t have anything to do with my music or John’s artwork, but we – most of us – don’t see or hear each other, nature or our bodies. We employ so many outside elements to help us ignore all those things right in front of us that are harmful, uncomfortable, and damaging,”
Evidence of a Struggle was born out of lockdown where Simmons recorded the album in his home studio playing guitar, drums, keyboards and violin. ‘Keep It’ is a relentless prowl of low rumbling concrete scattered with the glass shards of guitar and keyboards. The controlled chaos of the instrumentation is in slow motion and the song maintains both an epic feel as well as the queasy sense of being drunk and disorientated in an dystopian landscape.
The album is complemented by a multi-chapter audio-visual storybook, created by Chicago artist John Airo, who has been involved with this project from the beginning creating videos, album covers and accompanying visuals for live performances. His video is a caffeinated sketch book of frenzied lines that draws you into a dark world, perfectly complimenting the song.
‘Keep It’ is a powerful force driving Simmons’ message that we need to “stop blaming everything that’s happening on anyone or anything but ourselves… we are all living in a dream, we need to STOP, and we need to wake up”.
The album Evidence of a Struggle is available to buy on Bandcamp and stream on the usual platforms.
Evidence of a Struggle socials: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Spotify | Apple Music
Review by Paul F Cook
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