Stonefox’s “Time” acoustic video invites us to dwell in a moment of hopelessness and hurt, fracture and fragility. There are numerous ways to create intimacy through music, and Stonefox know them all very well. The Melbourne indie pop trio have been creating safe spaces full of sonic and emotional depth for years now, and their latest release is only the icing on the cake: Raw, vulnerable, and stripped-down.
Stonefox’s new song “Time,” originally released April 9th via Seeking Blue Records. The latest single off the band’s forthcoming EP (due to release in early August), “Time” finds the Australian indie band in a particularly contemplative headspace – waxing philosophical over purpose, place, and meaning, the group wonder aloud in a sea of “what it’s all about” and “why we’re here“. They’re classic questions, for which there are no answers; and yet, these topics never go stale.
Nuance and poignance have long been a part of Stonefox’s ethos: Their very first single, 2014’s “All I Want,” introduced Jenna Russo, Monica Spasaro, and Tim Carroll as a minimalist, introspective musical project along the same vein as The xx and Daughter. Six years after their debut, Stonefox retain that intimate composure and minimalist edge that makes so much of their earlier work as compelling as they are engulfed in feeling.
“Time” is, in all respects, a quintessential Stonefox song. “’Time’ is about looking at a difficult time in your life from an outside perspective,” Stonefox’s lead singer Jenna Russo “It describes the second stage of being hurt, feeling hopeless and defeated. One of the more philosophical moments on the record, it’s about feeling so low that everything you do in life seems like wasted time. Like looking at the night sky and feeling insignificant in the scale of it all. It’s about realising that everyday life can be exhausting and wanting to have someone alongside you to go through the motions with.”
The “Time” acoustic video marks a special moment for the band, as it is drummer Monica Spasaro’s first time on lead vocals. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a little while now but the right moment hadn’t really ever presented itself,” Spasaro explains. “When we had the idea to make the acoustic video we were all sitting around our home studio deciding the best way to pull it off, and there was this moment we all looked at each other, a little smirk on Tim and Jenna’s face. If I was ever going to try my hand in backing vocals this was it. It was nice that there wasn’t ever any pressure, Tim and Jen gave me lots of great pointers and were always encouraging about it all, and practising and singing three part harmonies with them just seemed to work.
All of that hard work paid off for Spasaro and her bandmates, as she so beautifully wraps listeners in waves of haunting emotion. Stonefox tap into a moment of a raw clarity in their chorus, as Spasaro bears her soul:
Shot at Princes Pier in Port Melbourne by Dan Parish (The Hybrid Minds), Stonefox’s acoustic performance is truly a knockout. Stonefox have completely transformed their song without tampering with its core – it’s as pained and aching as its more dressed-up, electric alternate.
“The song is all about looking at the bigger picture and coming at things from an outside perspective during difficult moments. We wanted the setting to be vast, moody and capture the message behind the song,” Russo says of the video concept. “As songwriters we draw a lot of inspiration from the ocean and there are a lot of references to it throughout the EP.”
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