Boombox Blitz: Saffron A caught in traumatized states in ‘Flashes’

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

Traumatic occurrences, big and minute, can wreak havoc on the body and mind. Like a reel of homemade movies, you get caught up in replaying the images over and over and over again until you’re nothing but discarded shells of a former existence. Alt-rock upstart Saffron A traces out her weary, tired bones like an Etch A Sketch, the charcoal lines collapsing at the slightest vibration. With “Flashes,” emotionally tightened with a visual exemplifying her entrapment, she seemingly stands in place as the world chugs along behind her. The anguish seeps from her soul and splashes onto the granular camera work, courtesy of cinematographer Vikas Vasudevan and director/editor Riley Campbell.

“The past is present everywhere,” she lets the words tumble out of her being. She’s brittle, but there’s a strength peeking through her tattered form, perhaps a necessary transformation hinting at redemption coming soon. She continues: “It always finds me unprepared / Spiraling thoughts of who he’s hurt / Hang over me just like a curse / I have no control which makes it worse / But I have to move along.”

Her face, one of great distress, floats as a ghost through each frame, and it makes the lyrical weight that much more unbearable. It nearly erupts into a spurting blood display, but she maintains a sense of self at the center. “The guilt I have is not mine,” she heaves the confession as an unwanted bag of garbage. Her abuser’s actions have not only crushed her physically, but her mental state has been a terrifying hellscape. “But I feel it all the time / For another person’s crimes, it makes me carry on / It makes me carry on / But this story is all wrong.”

“Both Riley and Vikas are talented professionals in the Toronto film industry,” says Saffron A. “They are full of ideas and created an innovative visual narrative for [the song].”

“Flashes” is lifted from Saffron A’s brand new EP, Resistance, out everywhere now.

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