29. Destroyer - “Sky’s Grey”

A sense of apocalyptic foreboding hovers over and throughout this soundscape. It’s a feeling that I remember well from 2017. The sort of shock and disassociation of reality not matching with one’s ideals or the inevitable (yet horribly mistaken) notion of progress. It was completely deflating, and left the soul feeling adrift and increasingly cynical, lost within the seemingly untenable haze of an uncertain future. The title, and refrain repeated throughout, says it all. The sky was indeed grey. It was as if the world had been slowly rising (I don’t mean to overly romanticize things, because make no mistake, things were still very fucked up) only to end up encountering some seemingly unforeseen obstacle, ricochet, and end up rapidly spiraling back into the comfort of stagnation.

This jam speaks to the feeling of being caught up in aforementioned scenario, of standing in a house on fire, and rather than rushing to grab water or even escape, you just sort of shrug and sit down, accepting your fate for what it is. There’s a resignation throughout. As if Sisyphus, having realized the futility of it all, is finally giving up and acquiescing to the inevitability of fate. It’s too much to contend with, and so all you can do is document what is happening and translate the visceral feeling into some form of art with the hope that something about it will succeed where everything else has failed.

The world is an increasingly heavy place. Everyday we plod our way closer towards the open maw of destruction, and this jam captures that pungent aura of fate perfectly. It wants nothing more than to stop, to dig in its heels, turn around, and escape, and yet despite its wishes it continues forward, pulled by forces against its will. And so, instead of fighting and remaining removed, it gives in, joining the debauchery, drunkenly and ironically recording the demise.