Multi-platinum master storyteller JP Saxe has announced a forthcoming two-part album, with part one, Articulate Excuses, due out April 18 on Arista Records. The announcement comes alongside the release of the relatable meditation on our modern condition and viscerally vulnerable statement, “SMARTPHONE MAKE ME DUMB” and its accompanying lyric video. Listen Here.
The two-part album traces the GRAMMY®-nominated singer-songwriter’s journey through a series of personal revelations. After writing and recording the album and feeling like there were two distinct themes to the songs, Saxe decided to present the album in two parts – he describes the decision as “90% for creative reasons and 10% because of the pragmatism of navigating people’s increasingly nonexistent attention spans. I love my music so much and even l have trouble listening to 14 in a row. So how could I expect someone else to?” Each part has a unique sonic and thematic identity that gives one message when listened to on its own or as a complete project.”
“SMARTPHONE MAKE ME DUMB” fits squarely into Articulate Excuses, which pulls from a period in which JP Saxe worked to come to terms with his patterns and personhood thus far. The track opens on pretty piano and a tension-building tone as Saxe sings searchingly about a familiar brand of existential dread: “I can’t get out of bed, there’s nothing good I can imagine / It’s scary in my head, I’m not ready for these interactions / I’ll do anything for a distraction.” While most of the song lives in a pensive place, Saxe is joined by a soulful chorus of voices for the heartbreaking hook: “Don’t leave me alone with my thoughts.”
“Consciousness is exhausting,” says Saxe. “Staring at hot strangers and whales and hydraulic smushed crayons for 5 seconds at a time on your phone is way easier. So is poison-induced vulnerability (alcohol) and disconnection masked as connection (flippant sex). Sure, maybe our brains are slowly rotting, but at least we’re not burdened by the stress of aliveness.”
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