“Drifting” by Shapes & Colors, Tuesday, July 19, 2022

The lead single and opening song from Shape & Color's sophomore EP, Love / Sex / War, "Drifting" sets the tone of the mid-teens power pop quintet. Fronted by the former lead sing of Search the City, Travis Bobier, the band shows their penchant for pop melodies in many of their songs, but "Drifting" is an excellent point of entry into the band's short discography. Almost foregoing a chorus with a "millennial whoop" in its place for the first verse, the song serves as a kind of unguent for a dull or bad day, giving energy as it addresses the mid-twenties crisis the lyrics suggest. 

WE'VE BEEN LIVING IN A TECHNICOLOR BLUR. The lyrics of "Drifting" talk about getting off course from where you thought your life was supposed to go. Singer Travis Bobier was about 24 when this song was released. At the age of 21, Bobier had been recruited to sing in the band Search the City after their original lead singer Josh Frost had left the group. Search the City was hoping to build on their success after leaving Tooth & Nail Records as a true Indie band, but several legal issues arose when the band's manager claimed the rights to their sophomore record Flight. This lawsuit ultimately lead to the band's break up. One of the offshoots of Search the City was Bobier's new band, Shapes & Colors. The band started releasing singles in 2014, but by 2018, Shapes & Colors, too, called it quits. In 2020, Bobier's new band CXMPASS released a single, yet they have yet to release a follow up. Back to 2016's release of "Drifting." In your mid-twenties, you start to realize that the dreams you had when you were a kid start to become less and less possible. It feels like we drift from our purpose.

I'VE GOT TOO MUCH PRIDE TO SIT BACK AND WATCH IT ALL DIE. But this feeling isn't exclusive to the mid-twenties. Sometimes the day-to-day monotony makes you question if you're living up to your purpose. If you add layers of religious upbringing, being told that your sole purpose in live is to please God and if you ever start to question that purpose, you can also feel like you're drifting. Then for the goalposts move thanks to economic crisis. The template we've been working for has changed. The American dream changed. Now we just have to survive. We're pretty set on not taking care of our future, but then a song like "Drifting" reminds us of what we're doing. We question how to get back on track. What are the steps we need to take "to get back to you"? Or do we just let tomorrow come, wake up, drink some coffee, and go back to work like it never happened?

 

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