PREMIERE: VONNIE KYLE Say You’re Alone
Vonnie Kyle is available on Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music.
by Walter Price
Buckle up indie fans, the powerful new single, “Say You’re Alone”, by Portland songwriter Vonnie Kyle is an extremely candid story about mental health, and it’s an unwavering emotional journey. No mind-bending metaphors at play here, rather this singer lays bare her personal tale. This inspired by daunting real events account is soundtracked by a sound that’s an indelible blend of folk, 90s alt-rock, and just enough grunge that it has a vibe all its own.
Kyle was kind enough to share this song’s heartbreaking origins with the GTC, “I had a massive panic attack in 2019. Fully convinced I was having a heart attack, I made a friend drive me to the hospital, where I was told that there was absolutely nothing physically wrong with me, and was sent on my way. I decided that they were all liars and that I was definitely going to die soon, either in my sleep or alone in my house where my cats would likely eat me within the day. I made my partner at the time check my breathing in the mornings before he went to work. My greatest fear was that my body would fail me and that if I was alone in that moment, I’d miss my one sliver of a chance for survival. Say You’re Alone was written from a place of helplessness, with no option other than to make a bunch of noise about it in hopes that someone who cares might hear.”
And to bring the feelings of fear and hopelessness to life, if you will, this single has a nightmare of a music video. Watch as Kyle navigates the darkness, scary entities, and self-reflection… all alone (or is she). But these visuals aren’t without moments of the kind of off-kilter humor only dreams can produce. Kyle explains, “Adam Sweeney helped portray this feeling so incredibly well in the music video. It’s like I’m being haunted by something that’s definitely real and present, and eventually, it will come for me, but… I don’t know, it’s such a peaceful and slow-moving presence that maybe it’s not really something to be so afraid of. Maybe I wouldn’t even be seeing it there if I wasn’t constantly drowning in my own fear of it.”
Whatever it is that haunts you, “Say You’re Alone” is, unironically, here to let you know that you’re not alone in those seemingly unspeakable experiences. And you can see the chilling what-goes-bump in one’s mind music video before anyone, here at the GTC.
VONNIE KYLE Say You’re Alone
Artist photo courtesy of Public Display PR // Quotes courtesy of Vonnie Kyle
Directed, filmed, and edited by Adam Sweeney
Produced by Adam Sweeney and Vonnie Kyle
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Nothing you’re saying makes sense
Sorry, I can’t hear you
Over everything else
But it’s a thump in my brain
Play it for the audience
Let’s see if anyone
Can make some sense of all this
Sense of all this…