“Chasing Shadows” by Alex Warren, Saturday, September 14, 2024

Alex Warren was nine years old when his father died of terminal kidney cancer. Before his passing, Warren’s dad left Alex with a love for music. Alex’s father bought his son a Fender guitar and introduced him to the music ‘90s and ‘00s groups such as Coldplay, Train, and Linkin Park. His mother’s alcoholism after his father’s death caused Alex to leave home as a teenager, even sleeping in a friend’s car for a time. Alex pursued music in the age of YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. In 2019, he was a founding member of a teen TikTok collective called The Hype House. In 2021, he began releasing music. His first single, “One More I Love You” dealt with his father’s death. Warren signed to Atlantic Records in 2022 and has released music steadily while creating other content on YouTube and TikTok.

THEN YOUR SHADOW GROWS LONGER ON THE GROUND. Yesterday, Alex Warren announced his debut album will be released on September 27th. You’ll Be Alright Kid (Chapter 1) will feature ten tracks, some new and some from as early as 2022, such as that year’s single “Chasing Shadows.” The song compares trying to hold on to the past as futile as trying to catch a shadow. The song points out that as the hours of the day pass, the positions of the shadows change, constantly changing where the shadows appear. We can wait for the moment the next day, but the factors of weather,  the slight changes in day length, and the changes in the landscape may make it impossible to experience the shadow the same way as before. Likewise, it’s hard to repeat a moment that occurred organically. As we try to keep our rituals and traditions, we may try to replicate the ideal of that event, as in Aristotle’s form. Still, ultimately we only chase shadows of that event as Pluto suggests in his Allegory of the Cave.


ONLY SEE YOU IN THIS SILHOUETTE. Today, “Chasing Shadows” means two things to me. The first has to do with how the mid-September heat is literally causing us to chase shadows to not get scorched by the sun. The second has to do more with my idea of Fall. A few years ago, I lamented to a friend that I never get to enjoy my favorite season. Fall is one of the busiest seasons for teachers as it’s back-to-school season. Transitioning from being a pretty good student to a teacher, I never had a job that went at a normal pace in the fall. It went from term papers and projects to syllabus making and grading. The crisp Autumn days I remember from growing up in the hills of upstate New York seemed to be pressed deeper past the equinox further south. But years into my teaching career, I’ve been able to make time for personal seasonal rituals, but they certainly aren’t the same. This year, the fall is shaping up to be just a little cooler than the hottest summer on record. I just want to feel cold and wear my burnt orange sweater. I guess that I’m just chasing the shadows of a season that may no longer exist.
 


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