Following from his earlier 2020 releases No Use and Adult, Christian Leave brings out Bedache, the title single off of his long-awaited upcoming EP.
In an interview for his previous single Adult, Leave hints towards his future projects with an visualisation of how and what he is striving to tell within his EP:
“It’s like you woke up in the morning, you’re like in your underwear, you stretch out, you get some clothes on your floor, and put on some album by your favourite band. I really like that idea because I’m like that.”
“…So, I’ve been like heading more in like a shoegaze-y direction with this project. After ‘adult’, I have this like project I’ve been working on that is just more of this like shoegaze-y like band feel music for teenage me.”
Leave hits that right on the mark with the addictive drumbeats followed by the pedal-manipulated guitar melody which either: makes you want to jump on your bed and shout along to the lyrics or completely sink into your bed while the music overtakes you.
Bedache not only meets us with a nostalgic early 2000s riff and melody, but with lyrics that discuss the relatable issue amongst those in their late teens-early twenties about dealing with the anxieties of having to grow up and leaving your youth behind.
With lyrics such as “I am so afraid of getting older, past is in the past but I can’t seem to move on / Time is moving faster as the days go, I wish I could give up and just sleep in my bed”, it brings out the inner child of Leave and him not wanting to follow through with trivial activities in his day-to-day life, hinting back to previous project Adult where he talks about how the people around him are going through adulthood at different stages in their lives.
The visual aspects in his music video, specifically towards the end, help support the lyrics: “All this thinking hurts my head/All this thinking makes me want to drop dead“, as the camera work puts an emphasis on the fact that he feels as though he is spiralling within his own thoughts.
The American singer-songwriter has expressed that he’s open to experimenting different sounds whether they lean towards an RnB sound, or whether it means he includes folk elements to his music; not limiting himself to just bedroom pop or soft indie.
Throughout 2020 we’ve gotten to see the different stages of how Leave has evolved and grown over these past few months through the separate narratives he has shown. During a time where many musicians have found it hard to create, he has decided to come out with his quarantine EP. Bedache is the leading single which defines the EP as a whole and is presented almost as a gift for not only the listeners, but to Leave himself too.
By Nicole Ndlovu.