Chairlift, the Brooklyn-based synth pop duo consisting of Caroline Polachek and Patrick Wimberly, have shared the new single "Romeo." The track is the second single they have teased from their forthcoming album, entitled Moth, which is due out in January via Columbia. Listen to "Romeo" below.
A press release states that the track was written from the perspective of Atalanta of Greek mythology. As Consequence of Sound points out, the Wikipedia entry for Atalanta describes the character as "a virgin huntress, unwilling to marry." Some versions of the character's mythos begin with her abandonment atop a mountain upon her birth whereas other tales do not start from the beginning, but most stories seem to agree that she was at least partially raised by bears until hunters found her and raised her as their own in the wilderness. While the Greek goddess has been depicted countless times in pop culture throughout the past few centuries in a variety of ways, she always seems to embody some version of a badass warrior-like woman who is not exactly interested in settling down.
In poet and essayist James Baldwin's retelling of the myth in his collection entitled Old Greek Stories, he describes Atalanta as the "fleet-footed huntress," which seems to best describe the chorus of Chairlift's new song in which the singer croons "Romeo, put on your running shoes, I'm ready to go." The footrace theme permeates the entire song: in the second verse Polachek sings "Race me / With all your tricks and all your heart / I'm not wishing you luck..." and on another she sings "On your mark / I'm gonna run 'til you give me a / Reason to stop"
As Pitchfork points out, Polachek has been on some sort of a Greek mythology kick lately. Earlier this month the singer-songwriter collaborated with MAKE Beauty on a video entitled "The Boy Who I'll See Again" in which she sings from the perspective of moon goddess Selene in a reimagining of the myth of Endymion. As the story goes, Endymion was a young and apparently attractive shepherd who caught the eye of Selene despite the obvious problem of his mortality. Totally infatuated, Selene asked Zeus to make the shepherd eternally beautiful. Zeus granted the wish, but not without a tragic twist: he made Endymion fall into eternal sleep, ageless and beautiful but never again awake. The video is directed by Adam McClelland and features a brief cameo from Polachek's recently-wed husband Ian Drennan. Watch the video for "The Boy Who I'll See Again" below.
The Boy Who I'll See Again | Caroline Polachek x MAKE from MAKE on Vimeo.
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