Through their latest single, "Shiny Things," Polartropica and Gilbert Louie Ray have created an indie pop gem with heart, cinematic beauty, and a dash of bittersweet. The Los Angeles-based dream rock artist teams up with Americana artist Gilbert Louie Ray to create a refreshingly timeless song that celebrates the spirit of riding on towards a new horizon.
"Shiny Things" comes off as a fine valentine to the melodies of the past. You can feel the influence of John Denver's cinematic warmth, the Everly Brothers' featherweight harmonies, and the surfy shimmer of the Beach Boys' guitars. This is innovation and a reinvention of classic sounds through Polartropica's galaxy-brain lens. This is about the end of a painful love, but more crucially, about surrendering with grace. Polartropica's singing hovers like sunlight on water, gentle, wise, and achingly human.
Gilbert Louie Ray plays banjo and acoustic guitar, adding an earthy counterpoint, and Brandon Graham contributes electric layers and mix, which give the track its shimmering atmosphere. The music video that accompanies it pays homage to the song's theme of reinvention. It's playful and cinematic, but deeply emotional beneath its humor. "Shiny Things" is a testament that healing changes pain. Polartropica and Gilbert Louie Ray have created a song and their own little universe where beauty and heaviness shine with equal brightness.
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