Subsonic Eye - "Being Productive"

Photo by Crispin Tan

As great as everything Subsonic Eye has released is, there's just something a little extra magical about the Singapore band's latest single. "Being Productive" is a lovely little jangly mess of a song. It has this shoegaze meets The Sundays sort of sound to it, and it's a little bit noisy and a little bit beautiful. There's also a sense of chaos in the song you don't normally hear in jangle pop, but that's kind of what makes "Being Productive" work so well. The guitar can be a little too grating, but amping up your anxiety is kind of what the song is about. As a listener, as the song goes on you sometimes feel like you're being pulled in two different directions, which fits the theme perfectly.

Vocalist Nur Wahidah says of the band's latest single:

"This idea of 'being productive' has always been challenging for me. When I was unemployed, and I was doing the things that I love in my free time (which was like 90 percent of my day), it felt like I was being unproductive despite the fact that these were fulfilling things. In a capitalist way, reading, knitting, stitching just wasn't productive - unless I were to sell my crafts. It gave me this dread - that I was useless and lazy and that I didn't deserve the free time I had. In hindsight, it definitely helped me to process this negative idea of 'deserving a break.'"

You can watch the video for "Being Productive" below. Singapore Dreaming is due out June 11 on Topshelf Records, and is available for pre-order here. For more on Subsonic Eye, check out the band on Instagram.