Inspired by uncertainty and crystallized in isolation, Brooklyn based Jack Symes’ sophomore album is a testament to spending time with yourself and making peace with the parts of you that have been neglected. Written while uprooting his life, and recorded in the blurry ebb of life under a pandemic, the deeply personal songs are at once wholly universal.
Check out the smooth and rich new single “Wait” (below) from Jack Symes. With unique vocal inflection alongside inviting aural color; Symes holds a gift for indie-folk architecture, as he effortlessly dances across the track with honest and inviting charm. Like Mac Demarco’s most whimsically retro patterned songs, “Wait” is a crafty track refined in its own pastoral essence.
“Wait” was written in summer 2019 right before a demo recording session in Brooklyn. I had been reading a book by Alan Watts called “The Wisdom of Insecurity,” which ended up being a bible of sorts to me throughout the year. There’s an anecdote in the book that stuck out to me; it describes the futility in trying to capture the true nature of running water for yourself, for when you pull that water from the stream, it’s no longer running water. It has to do with accepting things as they are and to release yourself from that desire to control.
The song describes this exact scenario as a metaphor for a relationship. “Stream in the city, water overflowing. The rainy years have made the water high. I want to know, so I drop my bucket. But all I get is water stuck in time.” The attempt to shed that desire to control, but the reality that it will take time. The chorus is “wait, dear, I’m trying” repeated. The whole song is a fairly accurate portrayal of my struggle to find my footing in New York after moving on a whim and also dealing with some hardships in a new, intimate relationship.“
