Bird Streets released the single “Sleeper Agent” in early November 2022 out of the new LP “Lagoon.” It made an instant impression on the UncleEars.com New Music Top 40 Chart as it debuted at #19 on November 6.
John Brodeur has been putting out music for some time (Bandcamp link.) This is the second LP as Bird Streets (Bandcamp link.) His voice aches in “Sleeper Agent.” It’s painfully perfect. Hollow but recovering.
It’s been a few weeks of living with this stellar tune and reports are positive: it jumps from #15 to #4 on the November 20 chart. It’s a complete package of a song that amazes even more when you consider the opening lyric: “I gotta tell you, I’m kind of a mess. Live through the day just to get to the next.“
It’s an “easy” song to love about uneasy topics. For me the one that shines through the most is dealing with the enemy within ourselves. Is it depression? Is it a constant negative voice in the head? Something perhaps more tangible? A pandemic?
For every artist who found the shutdown creatively liberating—many found the quiet earth a boon—there seem to be three or 300 who completely seized up. Despite suffering through six months of “total paralysis”, as he puts it on the opening track, “Sleeper Agent”, Brodeur wins simply for having finished Lagoon.
https://www.popmatters.com/bird-streets-lagoon-album-review
The equally excellent video drawn to feature the song is not interested in helping us form concrete conclusions when there are none. It’s a trunk, but containing what? Memories? Belongings? A body? A trip out to a cold dark lake reveals only a painful “letting go.”
“Sleeper Agent” has recently been released, and true to Brodeur form, it contains a loveable twist of phrase, “A congress of cowards ruling over my id.” It’s crowded in there, and this is a very sad, soul-baring tune that will resonate with those at internal war with themselves and the world.
https://nippertown.com/2022/10/31/album-review-lagoon-by-bird-streets/
I gotta tell you, I’m kind of a mess. Live through the day just to get to the next. Can’t return calls, never mind send a text. The monster inside, it don’t get any rest. Stare into the hole that surrounds all of this. If it has a purpose, I don’t know what it is. Next thing you know, you’re afraid to exist. Is there another word for total paralysis? As soon as possible, I’m breaking out of here. I’m gonna dig my soul to freedom or die trying. ’Cause there’s no hospital can cure me of the fear that my first move could be my last. It’s lying in wait for the signal to sound. A sleeper agent with orders to cut me down. Every positive feeling, underscored by a frown. At war with my mind and I keep losing ground. A congress of cowards ruling over my id. And the monster inside is just a scared little kid hiding under the steps, trying not to get hit. It’s getting so hard to forgive and forget when he knows what he did. Something I needed to get off my chest. But now that I’ve told you, wish I’d never confessed.
Lyrics, “Sleeper Agent” by Bird Streets / John Brodeur
“Sleeper Agent” is far better than any words I could come up with to capture it. This could well be because it is more about human feeling than human language. The power of feeling overwhelms many of us at some point. These are moments of time spent in ‘debilitating emotional quicksand.’
How amazing to create such poignant beauty after escaping it. How foreboding to know the next pit won’t likely warn you in advance.
LINK: https://linktr.ee/birdstreets
UNCLE EARS is a music blog written by David Falk. davidrfalk@gmail.com David was born in 1962 and gravitates towards melodies, adventure, unsigned artists, fresh discoveries. He trusts his ear to know what it likes and loves sharing what he finds. He lives near Seattle, WA, USA.
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