Derek Simpson – XING

Sounds like:
SuperParka, Blue Material, Kowloon

Song:

Derek Simpson – XING

What’s so good?

I’ve had a really awful cold this last week (no, it wasn’t Covid, don’t worry). I spent my days working from my bed, wrapped up in blankets, hot water bottle at my feet, entire medicine cabinet on my bedside table. It was shit, and I was miserable. But then, this song landed on my review list, and I suddenly felt a little bit better.

It’s lighthearted and playful, it’s easy to listen to, and just completely unobtrusive, in the best way. It was exactly what I needed to remind me that I would feel better eventually, and that as long as I could focus on the nice things around me, I wouldn’t get bogged down in my misery and congestion.
“XING” is kind of like a cross between dream pop and shoegaze, but it’s got some saucy as hell loops that make it a truly unique and textured offering. According to Simpson, the track is about gender and gender roles, and the freedom we should have to express our innermost truths:
“XING is my own attempt to carry a different conversation through, a lighter one that shines in celebration of androgny and a liberating playfulness that comes with the decision to remain outside of any specific definitions.”
Lyrics that stick:
Walkin’ off road, walkin’ to the edge of the skull
You walk wherever you want
No you don’t belong to nothin’, nothin’, nothin’
Sure as we kiss, surely we become
Spilled milk

1. Original post: Derek Simpson – XING

2. Find more music on Indie Shuffle’s Indie Music Blog.