Premiere: Jack Symes Debuts New Single “Wait”
Tompkins Park Coming March 26
Jan 26, 2021
Photography by Corbin Chase
Jack Symes
Folk singer/songwriter Jack Symes debuted in 2019 with Songs For Moms, an independently released set of meditative folk tunes presenting an unadorned look into his internal life. His sophomore project, Tompkins Park, was born in the aftermath of that debut as Symes’ life was uprooted, first by a move to New York, then after the pandemic forced him back to his parents’ home in Los Angeles. Symes took to writing throughout his trials and reemerged with a sprawling set of new songs, filled with rich instrumental arrangements and Symes’ moving reflections. Later this week Jack Symes will share the latest single from the project, “Wait,” premiering early with Under the Radar.
Where much of Songs For Moms had a simple unadorned presentation, “Wait” builds on Symes’ stripped-back style, for a slow-burning triumph of songwriting. The opening acoustic guitar is quickly colored over with soulful brass section, giving the track an alluring smoky feel that slowly falls away as pastoral guitar passages and introspective lyrics take to the fore. Meanwhile, Symes’ singular voice carries the song throughout. Initially, his delivery is understated and hushed but he ascends to an impassioned fever in the latter half of the track as the brass returns for a gorgeous instrumental climax.
Symes says of the song, “‘Wait’ was written in summer 2019 right before a demo recording session in Brooklyn. I had been reading a book by Alan Watts called The Wisdom of Insecurity, which ended up being a bible of sorts to me throughout the year. There’s an anecdote in the book that stuck out to me; it describes the futility in trying to capture the true nature of running water for yourself, for when you pull that water from the stream, it’s no longer running water. It has to do with accepting things as they are and to release yourself from that desire to control.”
He continues, “The song describes this exact scenario as a metaphor for a relationship. ‘Stream in the city, water overflowing. The rainy years have made the water high. I want to know, so I drop my bucket. But all I get is water stuck in time.’ The attempt to shed that desire to control, but the reality that it will take time. The chorus is ‘wait, dear, I’m trying’ repeated. The whole song is a fairly accurate portrayal of my struggle to find my footing in New York after moving on a whim and also dealing with some hardships in a new, intimate relationship.” Check out an early stream of the song below and presave the track here. Tompkins Park is due out March 26.
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