Ian the Idiot and the mournful, absurdist weight of "Coffin" (Great Official Video)

"Mama felt so proud when you were a young musician / Nonprescription glasses--everybody starts to listen when you talk..."

So imagine Lady Justice who I am sure you have seen depicted as a woman of ancient Rome holding a a sword in one hand and a set of scales in the other. Two scales set on each end of a bar, a comparative weight scale. Now if you would imagine Ian the Idiot instead of "Justitia", in one hand he would surely hold a guitar instead of a sword and in the other hand a set of ornate scales. One scale would contain copious amounts of absurdist humor and the other an equal amount of weighty emotionalism. I was going to say emotional dread but that wouldn't be quite accurate because Ian's emotional spectrum runs a mile wide. 

Take his song and Official Video "Coffin". From the onset the melancholia is plaintive, is beautiful even before the vocals drop in. On top of an easy Pixie-esque strummed guitar their are gorgeous bell tones bouncing on guitar strings and shuffling drum beats as the comforting vocals, conversational like over drinks at the bar, 

"Mama felt so proud when you were a young musician
Nonprescription glasses--everybody starts to listen when you talk
Spend every day on your childhood career ambitions

You want to be so famous? How original, you should do that"

AND, almost immediately you get the sense that time like lunch money get's lost in the shuffle, that you take one step forward and two steps back but then two steps forward and three back (I am confused). I like the bending guitar lines, something between Hawaiian guitar and garden rock slide guitar and the chorus goes, "I'll settle down in my coffin" X3, and suddenly the song becomes weightier and maybe more absurdist, not sure which way the scales are tilted. 

"I'm so impressed, you've been talking for 30 minutes
About God knows what, you're a genius and everyone you know agrees
And you're alive of course, cause your parents once had intercourse
But they don't much anymore
A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse

I'll settle down in my coffin X3"

As Liner Notes reveal: 

"Coffin" is "a straightforward slacker-style indie rocker about the pointlessness of ambition" and from "The Idiot" album. 

I like this track a whole lot, I love the outro where the song slows down with a mournful pretty sax solo. The Official Video is amazing. I think this song would be somewhat hilarious being played at a real funeral. I am going to put that in my will tomorrow. 

-Robb Donker Curtius

 

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://soundcloud.com/iantheidiot

https://www.facebook.com/iantheidiot

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2N5JTk7q4HIiUTK5OStC15

https://iantheidiot.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/ian_theidiot/


I'm a Los Angeles-born-and-raised independent artist, and I've been writing and recording songs DIY for over 15 years, starting as a kid in my dad's garage (he's a guitar teacher and musician himself). I've played in a number of bands around the city's "indie circuit," including the bands Pkwy, Small Forward, Yucky Bangs, Frank Pellegrino, Blu Wilson, and Loosies. I currently live in Hawthorne, CA (hometown of my favorite band of all time, The Beach Boys) with my wife and two kids, working a day job in some corporation somewhere.




Ian the Idiot, art rock, indie rock, alt pop, indie pop, beautiful melancholia, "The Idiot" Album, singer songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, diy producer, Los Angeles,