Addiction is a cruel mistress. It pulls you in and holds you there, and it can even get in the way of daily life. It’s something that can hold you back from moving forward with your dreams and goals. It’s like tar. Sticking you in the same spot, even when it’s time to move forward. Crimson Lake’s track ‘Rock’N’Roll’ really hits the nail on the head when exploring this feeling. Crimson Lake started working on music over 10 years ago, and he’s come a long way since then. He has a diverse musical portfolio and works with a range of different sounds in his instrumentation, including both synths and live instruments.
‘Rock’n’Roll’ hooks the listener in with its catchy opening guitar-line, and quickly follows up with an entrancing drum beat. There’s such a special energy to the song. It definitely has a driven punk sound, but it’s a little more laid back than typical punk music. There’s such a rich mesh of genres that lend themselves to the art of this track. The trap sounding drum line and the 808s pull in a little hip hop, and the vocals have a bit of a pop-punk edge to them. Meshing influences from tons of genres isn’t always easy, and Crimson Lake did it so cleanly with this song. His vocals have such a smooth sound to them with a bit of an emotional edge. ‘Rock’n’Roll’ does a great job at displaying the eclectic musicianship that Crimson Lake has developed his music around.
The lyrics in ‘Rock’n’Roll’ definitely have an edgy emo vibe to them, but there’s a little hopefulness thrown in there. It’s a track that explores addiction, especially alcoholism. Not only that, it’s a track about moving forward. The end of the chorus adds so much substance in this regard, “I’m dealing with addictions / But I’m on my way to fix them / So please be patient now,” Crimson Lake sings out. There’s such an emo hopelessness in most of the lyricism, but this adds so much hope. It’s a song that explores the hopelessness that addiction can stick you in, but also the intention to move forward and recover. It’s not quite about post-recovery, but it’s about the declaration that, “I want to get better.”
Crimson Lake is all about making music that’s new and refreshing. He’s an artist that likes to explore facets of a wide array of genres so that he can artistically mesh them together. He pulls a lot of influence from punk, pop, hip-hop, and emo. His music is constantly changing and evolving. Crimson Lake started releasing music in 2016 with his debut EP Paralyzed, and stopped releasing music for a while. He was able to come back ready with a slough of singles in 2020 and 2021. These singles refuse to be one note, and they really show Crimson Lake’s dynamic range. His latest single ‘Do You Love Me Yet’ was released in May of 2021, and it’s available to stream now on Apple Music, Spotify, and a plethora of other streaming services.
Written by Sage Plapp
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