Boombox Blitz: SEARLS makes no excuses for his latest ‘Scar’

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

Every moment of pain or heartache morphs into a scar. We can choose to either wear it like a scarlet letter or embrace it as an emblem of really living. “You’re like a scar on my skin / My soul is stolen,” Ireland-born pop enchanter SEARLS bops in cheeky and proud backflips. He’s not bitter about the increasing presence of scars that twitch on his flesh; in fact, he basks in their meaning and allows himself to employ the growing pains to move on. Just because it ended, doesn’t mean you don’t still cherish the romance.

In between Nintendo flecks splattering against a classically ’80s backdrop, he finds a high he wouldn’t have uncovered had he not learned to hold his past closer to his throbbing heartbeat. The accompanying visual appropriately hinges on his new-found freedom, and his smirks to the camera are equally freeing and striking. The buzz wears off in extraordinary gushes of modern pop blips and bloops, fueling the banger to steal away into the stratosphere one last time. Through electrifying modern dance routines, striking a pose worthy of the great Madonna, SEARLS takes cinema tricks from Wes Anderson movies (“the pastel colours, symmetrical frames, slow motion shots and pops of colour,” he says) and the styling palette of Miami Vice to new, inventive extremes.

From slow-motion snapshots to beauteous close-ups, SEARLS concocts a visually remarkable sequence, which was directed by Tim Gardner. He also aimed “to give viewers an idea of what they can expect from my live shows,” he notes. “‘Scar’ is about a love that is intoxicating but finite. Those stories don’t always have to be sad.”

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