Katie Gregson-MacLeod - “Complex”
Photos: Meg Henderson
Katie Gregson-MacLeod has sent us some music from the Scottish Highlands, where she resides. She wrote “Complex” after being inspired by Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles,” which, though we spend our days listening to song submissions from the indies, we did not have to google…
The first time you hear “Complex,” you might feel uncomfortable, as though you are eavesdropping on a past conversation drenched in an undying, one-sided love affair. However, Gregson-MacLeod’s voice holds your attention in such a way that you do not dare stop listening. You become invested in this struggle… This relationship that, for some reason, seems to have completely fallen apart… Wanting to know where it all went wrong and wondering why he couldn’t forgive her or why she can’t forgive him... Asking yourself if this guy is even still alive, wondering why she can’t forgive herself… Wanting all of the answers, while the relationship still lies bleeding, after years of being heaped into a pile of trauma that later becomes fuel for art. It is simultaneously immediate and it is the past. And you want to help, but, like a traffic accident, your head can only twist off of your shoulders as you drive past, trying to catch a glimpse of any remaining love between them… While the narrator of the story simply searches for a glimpse of herself.
We don’t always post lyrics, but these hit pretty hard:
“Now I just wanna kill you... But I don’t wanna paint you the victim... And I talk a good game... I’d die for just the promise you’d listen”
Gregson-MacLeod does all of this from behind a piano, which is where the song remains, for the most part. “Complex” is definitely worth your time, especially if you’ve ever struggled with something similar– hell, even if you’re afraid of ever having to deal with it… So, are you just going to stand there, nodding? Or are you going to hit that play button?
Obligatory Spotify link:
-TM