Gallant returns, gliding over a sea of roiling atmospherics and sublime instrumentals for his new single “Coldstar.” It arrives as the Grammy Award-nominated artist’s first release through Mom+Pop Music, heralding his reemergence with the promise of new music. To solidify that return, he will perform two intimate concerts at The Sun Rose in West Hollywood next month on Thursday, July 18th, and Friday, July 19th.
“Coldstar.” manifested itself on an overcast Spring day, with Gallant and Canadian record producer-songwriter Stint searching for an elusive sound to kickstart their creation. The pair eventually stumbled upon a glassy synth tone, gleaming with a haunting poignancy, that opened a floodgate of distant but still potent memories.
Overlaying it with a churning rush of drum machines and injecting a gentle euphoria via its rapt instrumentals, the track gushes with a desperately yearning warmth. “When there’s thunder in my head, / I count sheep in my bed,” Gallant coos, his breathy words floating earnest and urgent over the dreamy soundscape. “Wanna count on you instead… / My cold American star.”
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The single is joined by a visualizer directed by Sasha Samsonova, opening on a dreary landscape bisected by a paved road and fenced border, where a yellow road sign ominously bears the words “THE END.” Sharing a vision of exactly the kind of somber and cloudy environs you’d imagine “Coldstar.” to resound over.
Suddenly, Gallant appears, coffee in hand, trailing an abundance of black balloons. But then his stride is inexplicably broken by a sudden ambiguous shock: he stumbles and spills his drink, the weightless obsidian orbs leaving his grasp as he sprints for the hill behind him. The film then cuts to the artist’s beautiful, striking close-ups, his shirt drenched and silky wet, as he dances languidly to the song’s willful pining.
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“It was a gloomy day in April, and I kept thinking about when I used to feel down a lot, how I would wrestle with this persistent feeling of ‘wanting to go home when I’m already there,'” Gallant shared. “We had both been listening to a bunch of old video game soundtracks from 1999, and Stint ended up finding this synth sound that reminded me of something you’d hear in the water level of some Sega Dreamcast platformer. Immediately it all felt like a distant, core memory that I eagerly wanted to return to — and the whole song pretty much just spontaneously materialized after that.”
You can see Gallant at The Sun Rose in West Hollywood on Thursday, July 18th, and Friday, July 19th.
Words: Steven Ward
Visit Gallant on his Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.
