Kevin Bronson on October 16th, 2020

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There are happy songs sabotaged by their own heavy-handedness. There are ostensibly poignant songs that trip on clichés and fall face-first into a puddle of mawkishness.

“Living Life,” the new single from Steady Holiday, could be either of those, but it isn’t. Gifted with a deceptively nonchalant title — and one that constitutes a triumph in 2020 — it’s an anthem for not only living in the moment, but accepting the value in it.

Steady Holiday, the solo project of songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Dre Babinski, has released two albums of literate, noirish indie-pop: 2016’s “Under the Influence” and 2018’s “Nobody’s Watching.” They’re filled with her soft singing and lyrically stinging observations, and they land like darts.

By comparison, “Living Life” is sheer ebullience. “‘Living Life’ might be the most straightforward and joyful song I’ve written, and it’s about living with that same intention – to be direct, and not getting in your own way,” Babinski says. “The video is meant to capture that sentiment, too. Do what comes naturally, and appreciate moments as they happen.”

It’s the first single from Steady Holiday’s forthcoming third album “Take the Corners Gently,” arriving in February. The album was produced in Nashville by Blake Sennett (Rilo Kiley, The Elected).

In director Isaac Ravishankara’s video for “Living Life,” Babinski hitches a ride on the back of a mail truck. She delivers and so does the song.

||| Watch: The video for “Living Life”

||| Previously: “Quarantunes,” “Mothers,” “Who’s Gonna Stop Us,” “Nobody’s Watching,” “Terror,” Coachella