Kevin Bronson on August 28th, 2018

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In his second single “Shadowland,” Baby FuzZ — the musical moniker for New York native Sterling Fox — turns au courant societal critique into a meditation of self. Clocking in at under three minutes, the song suggests we should resist the reflex to rage against the outside world and perhaps take a long, hard look in the mirror.

Shot by Bin He, the video for the song follows black-cloaked figure moving by rote through daily life — some heavy symbolism to go with Baby FuzZ’s crushingly gorgeous piano ballad and its arching commentary that on the “Highway to Elysium / Fell asleep at the wheel.” Says Fox: “It started as a ‘fuck the man’ song and turned into a ‘fuck me’ song. I’m responsible for society. We all are.”

He elaborates: “In 2017 I moved to Canada for a year. Eventually, my passport ran out and I came back to the U.S. ‘Shadowland’ is a protest song about myself. I’m protesting my hypocrisy, my lack of empathy, my greed, my loneliness, and my complicitness to everything my taxes go toward. It’s easy to protest other people or institutions. Look in the mirror and protest yourself. That’s Shadowland.'”

If the Grim Reaper is coming, or, as the video suggests, is already among us, he could hardly have a more beautiful elegy.

||| Watch: The video for “Shadowland”

||| Also: Stream the song here, along with “Cig”