FOR FANS OF: Alice In Chains, Bush, Soundgarden
ZIG MENTALITY are back with another new self produced track, and this time, it's experimental. The band consists of members Jig Dube (lead vocals, bass), Quinn Dube (drums), and Liam Dube (guitar), a trio of brothers from Ottawa, Ontario. Their latest track is called "I & I," and it's a step into unknown territory - for both the band themselves and the listener.
The track, sonically, is experimental in the way that it differs greatly than ZIG MENTALITY's previous releases. It's noticeably slower, almost stripped back, with gracious amounts of vocal distortion. It ends in true ZIG MENTALITY style, however, with a massive guitar moment - what the band refers to as a BMF.
Lyrically, the song digs deeper than ever before - it's a self-experiment into the narrator's own mind, a battle between their self as they perceive it to be and show to others, and what their self "really" is. "You gotta know me / Prove to me why / You’re not the whole me / We’re I & I / I’m alert and present / I push you out / You wanna know me / You’re really blaow." Why do humans seek out knowledge for a higher understanding of ourselves, why are we not at peace without knowing the inner self (which is what many consider as their true self)? It's a spiritual question that many people spend their whole lives searching to find the answers to, and in this first verse, we can hear how frustrating the beginning of that journey can be for our narrator.
"We’ve been bathing in these thoughts / The fears coordinate the loss / Drowning in the bold surrection / Of the “I” that comes across / It’s only part of us" Accept fear and emotional and mental turmoil, it's apart of the journey of discovering your true inner self.
"The pedigree you’re selling as "the sauce" / Entertain our inner thoughts 'cause sometimes / You love them sometimes." There are so many distractions available to us that can help us evade spiritual and emotional growth, even if you know in your heart you should listen to your thoughts and not avoid them.
"Maturing voices / They hold the trial / I’m waging war with / My own denial / Caught up in templates / So good we’re blind / I wanna know me / I am a mind." I wouldn't know if there's a "right" path to discovering your true inner self, but, I do know there's always pressure from others who have a hierarchy over you, and it's up to you if you want to listen to them or go with what YOU feel, to trust yourself and be true to yourself. What path you chose to take, on a spiritual journey or otherwise, at the end of the day, is your choice. You owe it to yourself to let yourself do & think what you want, not let anyone else decide your life for you. You should trust others, but, you should also have the same level of trust with yourself above all. There is only one you.
"I’ve been waiting all these years / For you to freely break the lock / Facing our depictions buried / In a sealed repression box / Digging down through what you learnt was real / The more you scurried off / Coming back has made us whole for one time / I love the one time." This is my favorite verse. This is the narrator speaking, but finally from the other side, the second "I," the "I," who is the inner self, the true self. Finally the outer "I" has found the inner "I," and the inner "I" is so proud of them. They're together, they are whole, if only for this moment, as it can't last forever, possibly due to human's mere mortal existence, or something greater.
"I’m waging war with / The I in “I” / Caught up in presence / We’re really blind / I wanna know me / I am a mind / I & I." The smoke has cleared, the lights have faded. We're back to almost square one - we're not whole, but, we understand who we are better than before. The hardest beginnings of the journey are over. The truth is, everything we are is captured in our brains - we're really just minds in a flesh vessel. What does that tell us? That's up to you to decide.
This track is...fantastic isn't a good enough word for it. It's brilliant, and makes me want to pick up a book or two on existentialism and the inner self. I love it, ZIG MENTALITY are truly in a league of their very own.
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