Premiere: Blackpaw, ‘Chasing Blue’

Kevin Bronson on July 13th, 2018

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Blackpaw (Photo by George Lewis Jr./Twin Shadow)

Unlike the urgent first single “Defenseless,” the second song from Blackpaw — the solo project of Adrian Rodriguez — shows the songwriter’s moody and vulnerable side, not to mention an affection for surround-sound synths. Think of “Chasing Blue” (out today) as Blackpaw’s blue period.

“It’s set in sunny L.A. The grass is always greener here,” says Rodriguez, the bassist for Airborne Toxic Event who debuted his solo music, which he co-produces with Twin Shadow/George Lewis Jr., last fall. “Like the city, the perceptions of yourself are always shifting, and everything you want in the moment is always just out of reach. It’s the constant search for satisfaction, and the tiny flash of your dreams becoming you. The cruel way life teaches you something new, by making you question something you thought you knew.”

Indeed, while Rodriguez confesses he’s “changing colors,” the ache of his uncertainty is palpable, magnified by the song’s almost claustrophobic synths.

“I had a surreal dream where these lush synths were the soundtrack in my head and engulfing me, taking up every inch of my head,” he says. “I honestly think it’s just the overtones of my tinnitus that soak into my dreams in the form of synths. I sat for a few hours with a loop of the intro and verse synths just imagining the song unfold, trying to recreate the song in my dreams. George has a brilliant way of mentoring my ideas. He had a big part in this song, but he almost made me figure it out on my own at one point. Instead of producing he was teaching; he’s always teaching me.”

The tune is the second song from Blackpaw’s forthcoming mixtape, due in September (when he will be doing a residency — details to be announced).

||| Stream: “Chasing Blue”