FOR FANS OF: Mudhoney, Nirvana, Silverchair
Triggered Emotion, the latest track from the grungey-punk Canadian trio ZIG MENTALITY is here and it's loud. The single was released on January 15th, 2021, and it follows their track "Best Direction," released last November into this self-proclaimed new era of music for them. A new era of music for the band - music that is home-made (in their very own basement studio), self-written, self-produced, completely and utterly ZIG MENTALITY.
"Triggered Emotion," is four minutes of fuzzy, powerful guitar over vocals. It's about "...the convenience of burying our heads in the sand and avoiding the idea of confronting the things that may be inconsistent with our persona and image that we carry in every waking minute of our day. it’s about how we constantly choose to disguise our problems in all kinds of bullshit so it can fit our own individual views of the world. it’s about letting ourselves get triggered by the things that don’t seemingly go our way. we are all susceptible to these emotions. it’s part of the never ending roller coaster of being human," as ZIG MENTALITY said in an Instagram post caption. We all want to be ourselves, but finding out who exactly that is and trying to avoid the unavoidable changes of who we are that come with growing up, changes that might defer from who everyone knows you to be, is hard. It can bring so much anger, so much frustration, feelings that we don't have names for until they comes up in overbearing ways.
"...it’s about letting ourselves get triggered by the things that don’t seemingly go our way. we are all susceptible to these emotions. it’s part of the never ending roller coaster of being human."
Having inner and outer peace all of the time - in this fast-paced, instant-messaging, constantly stressful world we live in, is nearly impossible to find, very hard to achieve. It's, like ZIG MENTALITY said, much easier to bury your head in the sand than face things about yourself that might not be consistent with your public persona and image. It's easier to skip over how you're actually feeling, to gloss over what's bothering you because you're afraid of being vulnerable, afraid of confrontation...until one day, everything you've been feeling and ignoring, everything you've been bottling up inside comes spilling out like an opened can of soda that's been shaken up too much. It's hard to accept that who you've been might not be who you are currently. That area between who you are right now and who you want to become is an area that I know all too well. It's a space that young people, mostly around the 18-24 range, get stuck in, get lost in, and that's okay. It's all apart of the "...never ending roller coaster of being human."
What matters most is acknowledging that you're in this mixed-up area, that you're dealing with some heavy emotions. It's okay to feel them, but know it's not heathy to hide what bothers you, what hurts you, what makes you feel uncomfortable. Acknowledging your frustration, your anger, your negative emotions is the first step in finding some peace in this world, and that's what "Triggered Emotion" is, it's acknowledgement, it's the first step. Life isn't always pleasant, and people aren't always nice; it's our unfortunate reality. I don't know how to make the world more peaceful, but what I do know, is that change starts with you. Writing down how you feel, making art, baking, talking to a friend, taking a warm bath, are all good and healthy ways to deal with the heavy emotions that you feel.
The power of music cannot be understated - music can heal. Music helps, music listens, music says what you can't bring yourself to, music is there for you when you can't turn to anyone else. Like Penny Lane says in the fictional, late 70s rock era-set, movie Almost Famous (2000), "If you ever get lonely, you just go to the record store and visit your friends." "Triggered Emotion" is one song that tries to convey what it feels like to be angry and not know yourself, while also facing other people's emotions as well, others who might be feeling the same frustration as you. Some days when kind words don't help, when none of the methods I described above actually help calm me down, when they don't help me think things through, only music holds that power for me - specifically loud, fuzzy, guitar music like this track. "Triggered Emotion" is definitely a song I'll go back to when everything feels like a bit too much, when I need to press pause for a little while.
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