Shybaby is looking to get lucky on bodega psych ballad "Scratcher"
Brooklyn wild child Shybaby trades the manic, chaotic energy of Is This Intimate for laid back psychedelia on “Scratcher,” a wistful pop ballad that takes a measured, melancholy perspective on the never ending pursuit of happiness, one bodega run at a time.
“Scratcher” unfolds on a dreamy soundscape that reinterprets the psychedelic expansiveness of stadium-ready Britpop for the intimate confines of narrow convenience store aisles merchandised from linoleum floor to drop ceiling with a tumbling cacophony of cellophane snacks individually packaged in a chaotic kaleidoscope of colors. Prismatic flourishes fracture into crystalline patterns that spin amidst big, wooly riffs to blissfully disorienting effect, a house of mirrors within a lucid dream that reflects back the multiverse of the inner psyche lost in the supermarket of the mind. But there is a shadowy side to the track that beckons from behind the plexiglass walls of the checkout counter, the legal high of infinite chance accessible by anyone with a dollar and a dream.
Growing tired of the unending impulsiveness and uncertainty, Shybaby cedes the addictive rush of the unknown to a longing for stability, ultimately enabled by the same jackpot dreams laying just below the iridescent foil of a stack of scratchers. “I keep trying my luck and coming up fucked” smacks with recognition of the allure of cheap thrills picked up by the fistful on every corner and just as easily discarded when the feeling is spent, but the desire for something meaningful keeps Shybaby coming back for just one more scratcher to close the gap between dreams and reality in a single swipe.
Stream “Scratcher” on Spotify and follow Shybaby on Instagram.