The Shadow Notes - Revolution Blues

The great political activist Emma Goldman is often misquoted as saying, “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” Thankfully, Boston electro-pop duo The Shadow Notes — comprising musicians Levi Ali, a student at UMass Worcester, and Michael Dwan Singh — seem to be of the same mind, as illustrated by their eminently danceable “Revolution Blues.” Indeed, watching the song’s recent music video, which was released on Juneteenth, dancing at the revolution may well be the point.

The video’s narrative begins with Ali and Singh street busking as young, free-spirited friends stop to chat, hug them, dance a bit and then continue on to work at the ominously named Clearmind Corporation. Once the young people arrive at work, though, they are taken to “reprogramming stations,” which sucks the joy from them and turns them into brain-dead worker drones, and even draining them of their fashion sense. Later, when The Shadow Notes see their friends again, they realize something is wrong, and join forces with, as described on the YouTube page, “old friend — veteran revolutionary Jaspal Singh” to hatch a rescue plan. Naturally, it involves a literal dance battle, a la “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

It’s a familiar conceit, but it works here simply because it’s not hammered too hard. Honestly, it’s an absolute blast. Moreover, one would think a song with lyrics such as “Gods have chased my people down/A sea of red and black and brown/l’ll be there with you/Singing revolution blues” would be heavy, but it never loses track of its groove. Which, again, is the point: Losing that groove, that sense of joy, robs life of vitality, and turns you into little more than a zombie.

Can you dance to it? Oh, yeah. At its core, “Revolution Blues” is a breezy club track, and while the politics at its heart seemed earnestly held, the song itself isn’t particularly didactic. The song’s real agenda is a broadly defined freedom and a right to joy, two things with which the song and video positively radiate.

Read more: https://www.worcestermag.com/entertainmentlife/20200802/song-to-get-you-through-week-shadow-notes-deliver-dance-ready-revolution