The new single from Victorian duo Curly Blonde seems somehow to have bottled some brilliant Australian sunshine into their latest track ‘Room 309’ and created a sparkling and immersive joy along the way.
There’s a jangling, bubbling sound that cavorts its way out of the speakers and sets the feet moving, and yet there is an undercurrent of yearning and melancholy in the vocals. Indeed the lyrics, according to singer Brynne O’Connor, are about
…someone who had such big imaginings for their life and set aspirational goals growing up, yet, they’re extremely unsatisfied with how things have turned out and whether they can ever have a meaningful life. It’s a pretty pertinent song, because I think most people in our age demographic are starting to realise and have thoughts along those lines, and the song captures a moment where you either make the move and live out those dreams, or whether you fall into the masses and go through the motions.
The vocals indeed are infused with a sense of loss, but the guitars that sweep under the vocals are divine: intricate and layered.
As is the way these days, the accompanying video is the gift of COVID safety precautions and isolationism – a simple tale of the duo passing the time away:
The concept of the video clip was to capture the isolation and monotony of being stuck in the same place but wanting to get out of there. The video clip resonates really well with the song, because Room 309 is about someone having such high hopes for life, but not being able to reach any goals. The COVID lockdown situation sort of helped us in a way, because not being able to go anywhere and having to do the same things over and over again fitted so well into the music video.
A fascinating by-product of the COVID era: the duo, as victims of pandemic-related job losses, have poured their hearts into the music, and the results are a joy.
Out now, you can download/stream the single here.
