[Cover photo credit to Andi Kerr]
Miami’s Seafoam Walls have shared “Humanitarian Pt. II” the latest offering from their upcoming sophomore LP Standing Too Close To The Elephant In The Room out October 18, 2024 via Don Dia. The song’s lyrics “muse on what it means to make art in the modern age.”
Jayan explains:
“Before I picked up a guitar, I was simply a fan of music. Then, I began learning about the oppressive tactics of governments worldwide, and my world shattered. The entities of authority that assured me that everything they did was just were actually a key part of the problem. I started to believe that art was the only safe space in this cruel world. ‘Humanitarian Pt. II’ is about disillusionment.
I jumped into the music scene headfirst without realizing that the same tactics would exist. I then made it my mission to call out such tactics and question our societal norms like my favorite artists before me.
I’m still looking for an answer to all of my pressing questions, but it helps to be grouped with people with a similar mindset who have practical solutions. I gravitated towards Dion Dia records for our latest and upcoming releases because while everyone I admired raised great questions and awareness, Dion Dia presented a hopeful alternative.”
Standing Too Close To The Elephant In The Room carries “a Technicolor mist of experimental influences and instrumentation” for the band. The band took on the role of self-Producers once again, shaping an album that “delves deeper into questioning the trappings of modern society and all of the contradictions it entails.”
The album’s title is a metaphor for the “often overlooked but significant challenges and complexities that people face in their lives, and a warning about getting caught up in the details at the risk of missing the bigger picture.”
As Jayan explains:
Everyone has an elephant in the room; an obvious problem in their life that everyone, including the person affected, knowingly looks past. BUT, I say that one is standing too close because the problem is more complex and their vision is too obstructed to see the bigger picture. So viewers are providing skewed perspectives of the same problem. It’s an illustration of the areas in which intersectionality fails to meet.
