Boombox Blitz: Holy Golden pick apart the mind in ‘Born Lonely’

Welcome to Boombox Blitz, an artist spotlight series showcasing overlooked singers, songwriters and musicians who are quietly taking over the world.

Somewhere between the tattered and frayed layers of the ether, “bright and sparkling galaxies exist on the other side,” as feather-voiced singer Leslie Schott conjures on “Born Lonely,” the eerie and unearthly ritualistic ode from alt-pop pair Holy Golden, along with Andrew Valenti. “Angels wait to illuminate the magic in my mind,” Schott sings, a voice as angelic as it is stunningly penetrating. She has a way of peering into your soul with a shot. The song’s accompanying visual is nearly a religious experience, lending itself to unseen forces binding and moving inches up and away from our skin.

Filmed in remote locations of Northern California, the piece bends time and space, and you never really know if what you are witnessing is some outlandish tricks of the mind or an unraveling of the present. We’ll let Schott explain: “The video shows a place reached through the power of imagination, a metaphysical landscape that sits patiently on the other side of our waking thoughts.”

Paired with galactic, scorched and cerebral lyrics (“Float across the tops of trees as planets collide / Peel apart the horizon and jump inside / I’m running free towards my fantasy,” Schott whispers into the atmosphere, sending up shards of her very being as makeshift sacrifices), the visual is both distorted reality and inventive overlays of deep-seated trauma. “There’s a sadness in the song that came from a feeling of disconnectedness, but through exploring those darker feelings, we found doorways into places that brought us to a better understanding of ourselves and the world around us,” she adds. “Sometimes, you have to be willing to walk a little deeper into the unknown to find what you are looking for.”

Between the silky guitar tones rippling outward, Schott’s specter-like vocals and a rather intoxicating unease threading through the imagery, “Born Lonely” is a plea for existence. When the music fades in the song’s final moments, there is a swelling redemptive quality. Schott’s last, lingering gaze to the camera is chilling…

“Born Lonely” is lifted from the duo’s latest album, Otherworld.

Watch below:

Photo Credit: Caroline Goddard

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