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They should call Los Angeles the Big Sucker. Sure, it’s a dazzling City of Angels that promises fame and fortunate, but it’s more aptly a soul-crushing machine. Millions churn through its doors, only to be chewed up and spat out onto its grimy, dollar-laced streets. Pop storyteller Simon XO observes the city’s, and the music industry’s, inclination to drain its many wide-eyed hopefuls of everything that makes them undeniably unique. “California Free” lights a match to it all, a surprisingly somber musical crescendo exposing his deep concerns and heart-pounding sorrow through glassy production. “Ambulance ain’t free,” he whispers in the final frame. It’s as eerie as it is terribly true.

Listen below:

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