James Kohler – “Rhea”
James Kohler – “Rhea” – Music Video Post
Straight outta Aotearoa, New Zealand, to our Canadian-based pages and to your screens & speakers all around the globe, solo artist James Kohler has got a brand-new single called “Rhea” for you to enjoy as he continues on towards the release of his upcoming album Will And Way. We’re talkin’ about a truly grassroots sound y’all…you could think of a singer/songwriter as a clever blend between the throwback vibes of the mid-60s with the spirit of Indie Folk/Rock today, and you’d find him thriving somewhere in the middle of all that. Better yet, and more accurately, he’s described the sound of “Rhea” as “a bit like if a younger Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Paul Westerberg had a dysfunctional child who wrote about late capitalism.” Who would I be to disagree with such a pinpoint statement that gets to the heart of it all?
He’s got a lot working in his favor with “Rhea” from its blue-collar, proletariat perspective, to the gentle sway of the melody and its main hooks – which all would have had no problem standing proudly on its own to speak strongly on this song’s behalf, but James also went the extra mile to give it visual support. Smartly turning it into a lyric video was the right call for an artist like Kohler…I think anyone that’s listening to his music and the insightful way he works with his words, that lyricism is a genuine priority when it comes to the way he approaches his craft, and it certainly shines right through the storyline of “Rhea.” From what I’m gathering, “Rhea” is a song that many of us will relate to…more or less boiled down to the common ground we share regarding how we’re all slowly being crushed by a capitalistic society that is designed to keep the wheels of our consumerism a-turnin’ & naturally stifle our creativity in the process…you know, something happy like that. In this particular instance, we get “Rhea,” who pretty much represents us all on the ground floor of a world run by corporations…and we understand that feeling of life passing us by while we watch the clock at work waiting for our shift to end & secretly praying that the next will never need to come. We all feel that need for a little more time to be able to do all the things we truly wanna do, and we feel the weight of the seconds off our clock disappearing as we slog through the daily grind…but what if there was a better way to live? There has to be more, right?
That’s where you’ll find the real magic of this new single from Kohler make its biggest impact on our hearts & minds as we listen & watch the video. As he sings “Rhea, reinvent your life” – we recognize that the same rules should, and do, apply to each and every one of us…that it’s in fact, never too late to do something amazing with the time we have…that no job or the insane hours we put in can define us. Honestly, it’s a beautiful song in its sentiment, and equally inspiring when you consider what James is really singing about. He might drag ya straight through the harsh terrain of the assembly line and how corporations will try to crush your will to live once and for all, but in the release of the chorus & the hooks of “Rhea,” you can hear that the spirit of hope & change is alive and well. The video supporting Kohler’s new cut is simple and highly effective, with “Rhea” looking back in the rearview, having the most honest conversation with herself without the use of a single word. Staring back in the mirror, we see the hurt and the pain of being stuck on the left side of the split-screen, representing the part of us that still knows there is so much to life than what we see on the right side…which is essentially defeat and acceptance, or what happens when “thirty turns to forty” and putting in “fifteen years at fifty hours a week” as James will tell ya. It’s really a perfect representation of some many of us in the masses. We could pretend that everything’s alright, enjoy another lunch-break and get on back to work – or we could have that hard look in the mirror, realize there’s a whole lot more to living, and make a conscious choice to turn the dreams we have into our daily reality. Definitely diggin’ on the thought-provoking way that James Kohler writes a song…he sure gets the wheels turning, this I can confirm – and it sure sounds like he’s onto something special with this latest slice of his new record coming out August 22nd.
Until that magical day arrives, make sure to check out the video for “Rhea” above, and find out more about the music of James Kohler at his official Facebook page, where you’ll even see him performing a clip of his new song with Piko the puppy: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100052681161065
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