Photo Credit: Nas Bogado
I love pop music. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine to throw on some manufactured saccharin to just have some background noise. Although Séamus exploits the synth-forward sound of an 80s new wave act, his lyrics, messaging, and persona keep me hooked. The California native recently released the Lament EP with four tracks discussing “love, lust, loneliness, and desperation”. Its lead track “It Kills Me” encapsulates all four themes with his vocals sending shivers across my skin.
Like his masked character, the song hides its power in plain sight. The heavy material is carried with uplifting chords and arpeggios that deceive the listener with their lightness. The masked persona was freeing for Séamus as he developed the tracks on the EP.
“It all started as a way to create shock value. Slowly the character started to influence the way I wrote songs. I felt I could be more playful and dramatic since the words were coming from this character and not me.”
I can relate to putting on a front in all manner of relationships. The pressure to fit in, perform, and excel makes all of us change who we are, anything to get to a “yes." But what happens when we let our masks down? What happens when they see our true selves? Séamus’ experience is just like mine: pain, heartbreak, and betrayal, almost fear, are all played out in the wake of unmasking. The pain multiplies as he feels both regret for his actions, dissonance for who he is, and jealousy that she has moved on.
The grittiness of Séamus’ style strongly echoes 80s anxiety and excess similar to Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. The gritty noir and caricature of success play well in the perfect pop world where he sings for us.
I wouldn't say anything directly inspired the video besides wanting to make it feel eerie and uncomfortable. The close up grainy saturated edits accomplished this nicely. Shoutout to my manager for learning how to edit video like a semi-pro for this.
Whatever the interpretation or inspiration, the EP and video are a hit with me. The music is catchy and the lyrics rattle me with their poignancy. In any gilded age of excess and existentialism, we all grapple with who we really are and what we are even meant to do. Séamus has captured the post-Covid zeitgeist.
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