With the new single, Sky and their band of best friends examine feelings of inferiority and abandoned identity on the journey towards satisfaction and self-acceptance

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While identity is an inherently personal thing, it’s not found or forged in a vacuum—

From birth, we’re inundated with ideas and assaulted with assumptions—often by those we look up to, experts in our minds or theirs, the people who profess to know best. And who are we to know better? By the time we’re old enough, or bold enough, to question how well it fits—this path we’ve been steered onto, the person we’ve been shaped into—we’re in so deep that it takes self-examination, or excavation, of damn-near archaeological-dig proportions to discover what’s core to us, what constitutes our true self.

“Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be?” is a quote so widely shared —a question so universally relevant—that it popped into my head fully formed while writing this, with no knowledge of the source of the soundbite or memory of the context in which I’d discovered it. (It’s Charles Bukowski, for the record.) Wherever it came from, clearly it hit.

It turns out finding yourself is less a matter of adding things on (as much as we try and we try and we try try try) and more a process of sheering off the shit that doesn’t feel right. You’re not going somewhere, after all; you’re just heading home. The catch is that finding your way home is hard. You’ve got to be brave. And so it’s of no surprise that artists, the bravest among us, are not just asking these questions, embarking on personal truth quests and fighting for real understanding and acceptance throughout their own radical reckoning, but that they’re making art to share with us all along the way—

One example being “Elijah,” the new song from Skylar Pocket, which I’m absolutely thrilled to premiere here.

“Elijah” drops everywhere tomorrow, and leading up to the release, Skylar Graham of the project dove into the creation of the song, a piece that didn’t start with a clear destination or direction. Instead, the themes revealed themselves in the writing, the artist unraveling meaning in the making itself.

“When I write songs I don’t always know what they’re about until it’s done and maybe even a while after that. I don’t think this is uncommon for people who write music. I started off writing about how, historically, I always assumed the people I love were smarter than me, and that I don’t know any better, and so I should follow their lead. This idea became fused with a feeling of repressed gay boyhood that I didn’t know existed within me until the world decided I was going to be coded, or read, as a gay boy. I felt a little cheated that this had been assumed of me, that there was a level of promiscuity that was projected onto me, when the experience of transitioning so young made me feel too alien to indulge at times. In the end, it’s all about being satisfied with what I am left with at the end, and how to achieve that inwardly.

It’s a crossroads of feeling smaller than others against this feeling of abandoned queerness made ‘Elijah’ into a song about weaponizing my inferiority complex or something like that I guess, it’s hard to explain. I don’t think it’s an uncommon experience. Maybe some people will feel it.”

The extra essence of the song is in the arrangement. “Elijah” builds from a lo-fi, alone-in-the-bedroom beginning before crashing into the sweet company of strings and later a supportive chorus of da-da-da-da-da’s, giving the sense that while Sky is fighting their own battles both in and outside themselves (aren’t we all!), they’re not alone. They’re backed up by their bandmates in sound and in spirit, a dynamic representative of a deep, enduring bond that extends far beyond creative collaboration.

“Fletcher, Zach, and I (Sky) started playing music together very young, around 14 years old. After 10 years of writing together and playing shows, we’ve been able to get to know each other in a way that’s really special. It helps the music too. Since then, Sammy and Max have made Skylar Pocket feel entirely whole. Making music with your best friends and reaching toward shared goals together is a feeling I hope everyone gets to feel. We take care of each other, feed each other, sometimes we fight, and I always try to hug everyone after our set ends.”

It’s the love fostered in these kind of bands—each its own (very) micro-community, a little art-fueled family—that expands and extends into our greater scene, fostering an environment in which we can all feel more safe, supported and free. Beyond the music being made, this act of care is a work of art in and of itself. And what a wonderful thing to be able to witness.

“Elijah” is out everywhere tomorrow! Don’t miss your opp to listen to it live (along with a bunch of other songs!) Friday night when Skylar Pocket plays Our Wicked Lady with Caitlin Starr, Short Porch and Away Fans! Grab your tickets here.

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Feature image provided by the band.

Follow Skylar Pocket at @skylarpocket, buy music on Bandcamp and add the songs to your Spotify playlists!