Tropical Strength’s stellar new track, Let’s Take a Walk captures the existential thoughts one often explores whilst indulging in the activity outlined in today’s song title. Firstly I think it’s worth clarifying that in the context of today’s juice there is a difference between taking a walk and simply walking. Walking is a means to an end in that you’re literally taking steps to complete the mundane errands associated with everyday life; walking to the kitchen, up the stairs yada yada. It can actually be something that you dread doing. But taking a walk, well that’s a different story all together. Taking a walk is actively making the decision to transform this prosaic daily routine into a meditative ritual that not only exercises your body and mind but can be used as an escape to drift into a distant reverie or discuss something important with someone important. Today’s Juice is introspective and necessary for a shitty day like Tuesday, so chuck on a pair of headphones and let’s take an analytical walk together.
Let’s Take a Walk is a paradoxical, short-lived ballad. On the surface, it seems like an optimistic, happy- go- lucky kinda song. Guided by a buoyant piano, dreamy high-pitched melodies and Beatle-like arrangements, the lyrics do not necessarily exude the same level of cheerfulness as the soundscape does. At times TS revel in nature’s grandeur then, without warning slip into a loop of indecision that transpires through the selfish undertones embedded within the lyrical fabric of today’s Juice: “Look how the sun still shines/Look at the blue September sky/ I want to be with you but only in my mind”. To be followed by more tentativeness, “Maybe we should stick together/ Maybe we should drift apart”. The song doesn’t follow a linear narrative but rather verbalises random thoughts that are likely to drift into any Joe/Joesephine Blow’s stream of consciousness whilst on walk. Give it a spin below.
If you’re in Sydney, TS are playing a free gig at the Golden Age Cinema this Thursday.