Gabriela Caeli Sumampow
Pasadena-based singer-songwriter Satchel “Satchy” Brown is back with a new album entitled Brown Lotus, beginning with the song “Balanced”.
“Balanced”, the first track of this album, is a song that speaks about the balanced feeling of being in love with the right person. The song starts with gentle guitar strums giving the impression of a soft and dreamy love song before it plunges listeners into a jazzy track to groove to. The song’s track hybrids multiple genres, soul and jazz being the most prominent ones.
The chorus is obviously the highlight and the hero of the song. Although it contains a repetition of “I don’t know what it is that makes me so balanced with you”, that single phrase prominently highlights the overall meaning of the song with overlapping layered vocals. The fact that such a chill, laid-back track is full of emotion and wholesomeness never fails to amaze me. Its bright, feel-good nature of the song is also a perfect welcome to the summer heat a few weeks away.
The sax break and the sax works of the song deserve a huge shout-out. It really accentuates the song and, naturally, reserves itself a place among your most frequently played songs. The smooth drums and cymbals that end the song are resemblant of the song’s beginning, which is why listening to it the second time will always surge an adrenaline rush to listeners – because it signals the beginning of a whole jam!
Following what I’ve seen of current trends in the Melbourne’s music scene, the music video as well as the song holds a few hints of ‘80s/’90s aesthetics. Resembling the vintage aesthetics of Anna of the North’s “Dream Girl” and Spacey Jane, Satchy adds his own soulful, reggae-like style to create his own kind of vintage.
Keep your eyes out for the “Ah shit, where’s the rest of the band?” caption at the beginning of the visual, a truly pleasing touch to the overall aesthetic!
The music video features the man of the moment, Satchy, along with his band jamming along to the song as they play their own instruments, which looks really groovy (you might want to consider joining in!). The individual shots of Satchy and his band members alternating between themselves were spiced up into two separate shots playing alongside one another, filtered in bright red and a cooler, blue-ish tone.
However, there’s a meaning behind this simply attractive music video. The red filter symbolises the feeling of being in love, which dominates a majority of the song’s meaning. The cooler tone, on the other hand, does not only compliment the chill, feel-good element of the song, it is also a raw depiction of Satchy’s original identity.
The music video perfectly supports the song’s message of having a “balanced” feeling of being in love as well as feeling comfortable in your own skin, which are the perks of finding the right one to shine light on your love life. A simple message, a simple music video and a simple song conveyed in a complex, aesthetic manner? Satchy is certainly one to look out for.
After watching the music video, a hot tip would be to stick around for the visuals of “Dream Girl” coming right after this song! You might just get obsessed with the rest of Satchy’s work like I am.
Brown Lotus was released on August 27 of this year. Check it out on Spotify!