"Easy" is the fourth track from American musician Son Lux's (Ryan Lott) third studio album Lanterns (2013), and easily stands out from Lott's other dense, experimental sonicscapes by being sparse and minimalist. This doesn't mean that the track is actually 'easy listening', however. As PopMatters' Max Casarino notes, Son Lu'x central conceit - "shy vocals blended with electronic sound, punctuated with orchestral and choral flourishes, brandished with the occasional wind or string instrument, topped off with drum loops and lots of reverb" - is utilized once again to produce a complex and challenging musical output: "Lanterns offers up enough sonic challenges to cause a massive battle within anyone’s headspace".
The track starts off with an eerie, enigmatic beat that sets the atmosphere for Lott's gravelly intonations and circular lyricism:
'Easy, easyPull out your heartTo make the being aloneEasy, easyPull out your heartTo make the being aloneEasy, easy
Easy, easyYou break the bridle to makeLosing controlEasy, easyCrushed what you're holdingSo you can say letting go isEasy, easyOh, easy, easyBurn all your thingsTo make the fight to forgetEasy, oh, easyBurn all your thingsTo make the fight to forgetEasy'
The (ironic) point of the song is that there's really nothing 'easy' about trying to absolve oneself of emotional problems by attempting to rid oneself of emotion. Lott's emotes the anguish of this coping mechanism with sparse-yet-evocative lyrics, while the post-rock instrumentals - trip hop beats, operatic soprano cascades and numerous baritone saxophones - conspire to create a chillin and jolting pyschic portrait underscored by unease. The accompanying video (directed by David Terry Fine) certainly adds to the song's haunting quality, an aesthetic that clearly came easily to Lorde when she covered the song in 2014.
