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Sep 24, 2021 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Aaron Brame

Last month, Memphis-based multi-instrumentalist and producer Graham Burks Jr. shared his new LP as Loose Opinions, Shadow of a Shadow, via Back to the Light Records. After a career of exploring punk and no-wave with bands like Sweet Knives and Perfect Vessels, Burks turned inward over quarantine to completely explore the possibilities of his solo studio project Loose Opinions. Playing almost all the instruments himself, Burks layered together an exploratory palette of vocal harmonies, vintage analog synths, programmed drums, and guitar into a seamless set of tracks, each song melting into the next.

Now Burks is back, following the new record with a video for the title track, “Shadow of a Shadow,” premiering with Under the Radar.

The vibrant title track is also one of the record’s biggest highlights, initially finding Burks enlaced in a fittingly shadowy maze of distorted vocals and glittering synths before shifting into a driving indie rock instrumental. Nervy guitar lines and propulsive bass color the song as Burks’ vocals wind and twist, revolving elliptically around his central confession一“I’m just a shadow of a shadow.” As the song hits a fever pitch it then shifts into a dreamy haze of pulsating synths and echoing vocals in the second half, drawing the song to a close in a floating psychedelic daydream.

It’s a wonderfully varied track, made all the more impressive by the fact every bit of it was performed by Burks himself. The accompanying video drives that home, with different versions of Burks each playing their instrument until they join together for a full band before ascending into a cosmic animated finish.

Burks says of the track, “Last year when Memphis, Tennessee’s vibrant music scene came to a grinding halt, I turned my attention to my home studio, but I found it impossible to create when my inspiration tank was empty. Eventually, I sensed the world was turning the corner towards a brighter day. Shadow of a Shadow emerged, a solo studio album I wrote and produced at home on my own.

“Shadow of a Shadow,” the title track and first song on the album, explores feelings of insignificance and self-doubt. Before stepping out on my own with Loose Opinions, I had always played a supporting role in a Memphis music scene obsessed with obscurity. I found myself a shadow of a shadowy scene. This song represents the first step in a journey documented by the album to step out of those shadows and to find inspiration and light in a world where inspiration did not exist.

The video was directed by Christopher Reyes, a longtime friend, and respected creative in Memphis known for interactive multimedia projects such as Baron Von Opperbean’s Exploratorium of Magic Science and the Multiverse.”

Check out the song and video below. Shadow of a Shadow is out now via Back to the Light Records.