Young, budding indie alt-pop artist Abby Sage shares her atmospheric new single “Pool Party,” a tune that is equal parts mysterious as it is hard to ignore. With a biting aloofness, “Pool Party” showcases Sage’s strong songwriting abilities that aptly touch upon wistfulness, wanderlust and modern malaise.
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“Pool Party is a metaphor for kids not being prepared for the world,” Sage notes of the song. “‘Pool party kids can’t swim they ask nobody just sink to the bottom and think (off the deep end).’ Kids are dealt a tough hand, having such a vast amount of information at their fingertips with nobody to guide them or explain what it all means. They have to drown to learn.”
“Pool Party” hangs in the air like a relentless humidity, sticking to you and making its presence all too known. While not completely unbearable, the feeling of moisture in the air comes close to stifling and there isn’t much a person can do about it. It’s an unresolved, mental and physical affliction much like the sentiments captured in Sage’s lyrics.
The music video for “Pool Party,” directed by Aidan Dick, is equally as dense, with Sage donning a handful of clay masks in a completely black/dark environment. As she takes one mask off for another, her face blurs and sometimes, the masks appear to float all on their own. Shot from different off-angles, often focusing on a reflection in a hand mirror as opposed to the subject itself, the disjointed nature of the song is amplified through heavy visuals.
“The ‘Pool Party’ video concept came to be when I brought Aidan the idea of using a black void space so it would be easy to duplicate, move around, and edit all on a fully black background. It’s an intense song so I wanted a visual that matched that,” notes Sage. “I made the masks out of paper mache with a friend and hung them with fishing wire. I really wanted it to look like they were floating in mid-air and make it a little spooky. The video is just a chaotic fever dream of a bunch of different masked characters playing cards and getting more and more unhinged as the song goes on. The space gave us free reign to make something visually interesting and I’m super happy with how it came together.”
The second single out this year, “Pool Party” follows Sage’s first single of 2022, “Force of Habit” with more to come in the second half of the year.
Words: Patti Sanchez
For more on Abby Sage, make sure to follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
