IAN SWEET – “All Skaters Go To Heaven”

IAN SWEET – “All Skaters Go To Heaven”

Recently-crowned Band To Watch IAN SWEET’s upcoming debut album is about the unhealthy habit of giving up too much of yourself to someone you love until there’s nothing left, and third single “All Skaters Go To Heaven” tells a haunting and warped tale of how a seemingly simple request can be indicative of a relationship’s imbalance. “The last thing you said was I want ice cream in bed,” Jilian Medford recalls, and so she does just that, going above and beyond in the name of devotion: “So here you go,” she sings, exasperated. “I went to the corner store/ Waited up all night ’til they opened their doors.” But the inconvenience is met with no recognition or gratitude; instead, her partner simply asks even more of her with no reciprocation. “You tell me to keep my hands by my thighs and sit on them ’til you can use yours again,” and she obliges because love makes everyone stupid.

“I would die by your side,” she pledges, but it’s a one-way street. Medford can only fulfill an idealized role of girlfriend and caregiver, and she’s careful not to expose any of the messiness that comes from her conflicted emotions and weaknesses: “It’s not me that you want/ It’s my funny haircut and the way I talk about skateboarding.” Because she’s a constant worrier and appeaser, she doesn’t vocalize any of this dissatisfaction, which just leads to burrowing even deeper into loneliness and isolation. Listen below.

Shapeshifter is out 9/9 via Hardly Art. Pre-order it here.

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