The “One-track Find” feature is an expedition of sorts to unearth lost musical treasure which falls through the cracks of the beaten path and gets trampled underneath by the callous footsteps of profit-driven music merchants and a gullible and easily satisfied music consuming public. One-track Find delivers these buried and overlooked treasures for the true music makers and true music listeners one song at a time. It advances the radical idea that it’s the prophets in music not the profits that can change the world, even if it’s only the small corner of the world in which you live. It couldn’t be simpler. All that’s required of you, is to listen with your ears, your heart, your soul, and your imagination, and let the music return you to a familiar place or confidently lead you away, to somewhere you’ve never been before.
It's a noble endeavor when songwriters and musicians rebel, consciously or not, against the sound bite driven, 140-character, short attention span culture which is prevalent in the modern landscape of music. When songwriters and musicians have the confidence to put down on paper and put into song what they really want to say instead of what they think the music business wants to hear, that's what you call a rebel yell worth listening to, despite the foregone fate of it often falling on the deaf ears of commercial radio programmers and commercially conditioned listeners. Even if the echo of this rebel yell only reaches one listener who has broken loose of the restraints that mainstream radio has tightened on a musically dumbed down, submissive listener base, then all of the hard work and creative energy that went into writing and recording the song was not in vain.
Houston is home to many songwriters and musicians with multiple albums and EPs already comfortably residing in their respective discographies who are quite content with unleashing their rebel yell to anyone who will rise above the racket of the usual mainstream radio music rations and venture into the frightening wilderness of the unfamiliar and officially unendorsed. Despite the silence and dismissal of most, but not all of the local and national music press, that characterizes this city as the reluctantly adopted foster child of the Austin music scene, and distant cousin several times removed of the Los Angeles and Seattle music communities, Houston is a thriving community of independent musicians who willingly and happily continue to shout from the depths of their heart and soul into the virgin wilderness of the local music scene at the risk of going unheard by the masses. These are professional musicians and songwriters who are quite aware of the rumored greener pastures of big name, nationally recognized music towns. However, they also know with these greener pastures come boundaries, imposed discipline, and expectations of conformity to the rules of the music business that asphyxiate creativity and kill honesty in its sleep. In the wilderness, there are no rules, there are no boundaries, and as a musician, you're free to explore and rule the land you traverse. Unlike in space and unlike the popularly recognized music cities, in the wilderness, your rebel yell will be heard. People will hear your scream, and they will want more, more, more just so they can feel alive again in an antiseptic musical environment.
Ellis Easley is one of many of Houston's hometown musicians who seems perfectly content with residing in this wilderness of song. Even if you pride yourself as having your finger on the pulse of who's who in local music, Easley might not have shown up on your musical library radar unless you happened to catch him playing around town or stumbled across his music online. When you explore his music online, you might be surprised how many quality songs he's recorded and released to the public and wonder how it is that you haven't heard his distinctive voice on the radio. Like so much of his music shouting to be heard in the wilderness of song, Easley's "Upside Down" is one of those cherished rebel cries in the wild, and it's been selected as the latest One-track find. Written back in 2013, Easley refers to it as his first serious recording, and although he says he's evolved as a songwriter and musician since then, "Upside Down" was the genesis of the kind of song he likes to write.
Songs like "Upside Down" are a reminder that the beauty of music and the power of well written songs lies in the different value they have for everyone, including the artist and the individual listener. As a member of the audience, you listen to the musician's words and music and try them on for size. You keep what fits you and your situation and put the rest back for others to try on themselves. "Upside Down" makes this interaction between artist, song, and audience simple. It's the musical equivalent of one-size-fits-all because of its clever lyrical ambiguity and strategic instrumental structure which taps into the ubiquitous sensation of being overwhelmed by the weight of life, the universe, and all of the components that hurtle through it and swirl around you, keeping you in a state of disarray.
"Too many pieces to put back together They couldn't hold up to the quick changing weather You and I were meant for different places and I can't keep up with all these changing faces"
"Upside Down" is a sprawling (by commercial radio boundaries, but not for the untamed indie musical wilderness) tune that sweeps you up in its wake from its first funeral-like processional roll of the rigid drum beat calling you to get in line and march into the emotional storm with Easley. As the song progresses, the instrumental structure sheds some of its framework, emphasizing the swirling feeling of confusion the protagonist of the song suffers, and by extension, the listeners too, whom have probably found themselves in a similar predicament at one time or another. Even if you like to present yourself as the most optimistic, stable, and secure person in the world when it comes to tackling life and its obstacles, the sensation of drowning under the weight of life is a feeling everyone has had. This could be as a result of being blindsided and devoured by the absence of or end to a relationship, a loss of a loved one or friend, economic and financial helplessness, or inexplicable, uncontrollable despair or difficulty in finding a sense of belonging or purpose.
"While I'm stuck waiting under water
My dreams they don't seem to adhere
To this world that we've constructed
Something is holding me down
But I keep clawing my way to the surface
Just to find all this time
I've been upside down"
Regardless of the triggers that set your perceived spiraling descent into motion, "Upside Down" will speak to you, or more accurately serenade you with the empathetic caress of Easley's smooth, consoling voice and the precision of his lyrical reassurance. Despite the song's somber tone and intentionally disjointed structure to emphasize the song's universal theme of confusion and helplessness in the face of real life situations, there's an undercurrent of optimism and hope that suggests by acknowledging this overwhelming confusion and embracing it head on, just like standing up to a playground bully, you might be able to prevent it from knocking you flat on your back at that moment, and from potentially returning to torment you in the future. "Upside Down is a song tailored to fit everyone whether their journey is into the heart of the city or into the wilderness of song.
To listen to "Upside Down" in all of its unbridled glory click here. To listen to more music by Ellis Easley, click here and here.