There’s an inviting, warm glow that embraces listeners from the first moments of “Nothing.” Dan Knishkowy’s voice hovers above the soft cascade of keyboards and guitars, almost whispering, “It was alright now, I felt nothing.” Plucked chord progressions move gently, seasons changing in the aural heart of each movement. It doesn’t feel like resignation so much as an acceptance that there are things we may never quite figure out. “While writing Sunflowers, I was fascinated by the tightrope balancing act between freedom and stability,” Knishkowy explains. “I think that exploration culminates on ‘Nothing.'” The question grows more urgent as he sings about “cooling in the shade of a career / what was freer?” He wonders aloud about the cost of professionalization, quoting Maggie Nelson’s Bluets with the line, “wondering if there was good kinds of hustlers?” “Nothing” builds toward a cacophonous ending that leaves the tension beautifully, frustratingly unresolved. The discomfort lingers, raising questions about creative life that feel both intimate and universal.
Watch the Sunflowers is out this Friday, October 24 via Ruination. Stream “Nothing” below and pre-order HERE.
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No big deal … boring