Kelly Kirwan
“The Dylan of your era devotes a poem to you / Which only leaves you embarrassed / And not a moment too soon...” Gretchen Lohse sings lightly, her consonants melting together in a raspy, whimsical timbre, introducing Carol Cleveland Sings’ latest single, "Run to Your Bedroom." Having paired up with the Philly-based musician, Thomas Hughes (of The Music Tapes and Spinto Band), the two artists tinkered with the right mix of lo-fi, electro-psych pop, to expand their sound, which is now nuanced with a La-La land lure. Or in their words, "Epcot Pop." "Run to Your Bedroom" is both awash in a warm-weather haze and quirk—with perhaps a social commentary on our dependence to technology swimming somewhere in the mix. But fear not, it’s a soft-handed undertone, delivered with the same lazy Sunday cheer of their melody. Or just Carol Cleveland Sings out for a laugh.
The video opens in a pastoral setting—a tableau of green and sprouts of flowers, with a computer that feels plucked straight from the 90s, sitting out in the open. A gorilla walks over, dressed in human clothes, and agrees to the computer’s request—a touch. The result is a swirl of purple smoke and emojis flooding from the virtual into reality, running amok with their new freedom. They shift in appearance upon the gorilla’s touch, who swats them away in a playful manner, rather than hastily attempting to tidy up. It’s, all in all, endearingly peculiar, cutting between footage of animals who have a superimposed emotive icon lingering over their likeness. Run to Your Bedroom is sweet and strange, the sort of dream that leaves you with a disbelieving smile on your face in those moments after you wake.