Erica Recommends: “Dream State” by Son Lux
In 2018, I was taking a gap year. The pockets of free time I had were many, leaving me with a desire to seek out new music, something different from my regular playlist of indie and mainstream pop.
This was when I stumbled upon Son Lux. I was mesmerized by the song that this dance was choreographed to. I mean, it is pretty difficult to look away from people being painted in gold, dancing as Ryan Lott sings about dreams and days that have gone past.
It spoke to me, a directionless, lost, 20 year old, stuck in a minimum wage job, trying to figure out what she wanted in life. There was this sense of invincibility that I felt from the lyrics, in the part of the song where it dies down, only for the music to swell, building up to the post-chorus. The lyric of “out of the dark day, into the brighter night” is something that will stay with me for a long time. The imagery struck me. I would probably never know the real meaning behind the lyric, but it felt like journeying from things that you know, that may not be what you want (“the dark day”) into something more unknown, something that may turn out to be bright (“the brighter night”).
Inspired by this, I created this piece of art.
Looking back, I think I found much solace in one part of the second verse, where it goes like this:
“Will we survive in this, our new wilderness?We have nothing on our feet”
Nothing else was able to encapsulate my feelings in that time of my life that perfectly. That gap year may be well behind me, but playing this song takes me back. It feels like being transported to another world, another time.
Want to feel invincible for 5 minutes and 30 seconds? This is the way to go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjjlABP5t1Q(Song recommendation by Erica Yong)