Music Review // Sparkle Blood "In Real Life"

 

Not to get too deep into anything off topic here, but right away I enjoy this song "In Real Life" for its lyrics because we seem headed in a direction where, as the song says, "It’s getting hard to tell / The bullshit from the truth / The information feed is lying to you" and a lot of that has to do with A.I.   Someone once said that A.I. can't create true music because it has no soul, but I still do worry about the state of misinformation being spread around online, especially with the older generations being on Facebook and seeing content which they might not so easily recognize as being fake.

If you've ever been online too much, you also most likely have been told to go outside and "touch grass".  I think this is something we need to see less as an insult and more as a way of actually living life without feeling like we're stuck in a bubble known as social media, which by and large is often times not true.  A lot of what happens in this world is going to happen whether or not you're outside, but you might as well be outside to experience it, right?  I look at it like baseball.  If I watch a baseball game at home, on television, I see what they show me.  But if I go out to a baseball game, I see what I choose to see.

Through these fuzzy guitar riffs, Sparkle Blood has a sound somewhere between Dinosaur Jr, Bob Mould, The Thermals and Zoo Front.  You can easily sing along with the hook, which says "Real life / That's what really matters" and as such you can even begin to use that as a genre for getting out there into the world.  Real life experiences- whether it be a baseball game, art museum, live music or just going for a hike in the woods- are always better than just sitting behind a keyboard and speculating on life.  Instead of feeling like you're doing commentary, it's time to start living it.

There is a part of this song which breaks down and is spoken to say just that: "I don't want to be a spectator / I want to be involved".   This particular part of the lyrics is a nice motivator to get out there consequences be damned.  You might face adversity but that's part of life.  It's better to go out there and get hurt than to not go out there at all.  For the sake of not feeling like you're being lied to, but also just to really feel like you're out there living your life and not just sitting on the sidelines, put on this song and follow the message.