“Blank Tapes” is a track from Everything Feels Better Now (2016), From Indian Lakes’ fourth full-length album. California native Joey Vannucchi choice of band names and the leafy backdrop in the accompanying audio video accurately signals the track’s ‘naturalist’ leanings.
Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joey Vannucchi (who recorded every (analog) instrument heard on the album in his home studio) traces his musical beginnings to a 40-acre patch of land near Indian Lakes, a community just outside Yosemite National Park. There is an ‘organic’ quality and emotional honesty that permeates the track, presumably from the formative years he spent near the tranquil greenery, shimmering water bodies and picturesque mountains:
“I think this album is a sort of cleansing in a lot of ways. I didn’t overthink it, didn’t fix it, just went into a room to see what came out. To be an artist, truly. Flaws and all. I’m really happy with it. I don’t think everyone is so lucky to be able to step out of their comfort zone and be so pleasantly surprised by the outcome.”
Joey Vannucchi, Consequence of Sound
Against a hazy guitar, rolling drums and a minimalist bass (which creates a swirling atmosphere that blends indie pop, post-rock, folk and alternative genre influences), Vanucchi’s falsetto-leaning vocals shines through like a ray of light through intricate foliage, as he laments a lost state of bliss that he used to experience with a significant other:
'You used to come alive.
In the darkness, you held a light.
In the basement, you held on tight.
You would watch them night after night.
You'd take 'em out and you'd dust 'em off
Are you the star you meant to watch?
Are they the faces you used to know?
Are we ok, are you all alone?
(Are we ok?)
They used to hold you up,
float over everyone.
You had a warm bed you never saw.
Are we ok? Will you sleep it off?
And now we're walking in a blank space,
but we can't shake ourselves awake.
(and now it feels ok)
We try to fill our hearts with blank tapes,
and we tape over everything.
(and now it feels ok)'
Source: MetroLyrics
