Level Sedentary is the second single from Imploding, the upcoming album by Brit alt rockers The Empty Page. Following the extroversion of their recent single, Dry Ice, the new track is all about inwardness or "hiding under the duvet," as the band puts it.
This duality, according to singer and songwriter Kel, essentially describes who she is: “I think people assume I am an always-on extrovert but sometimes, the last thing I want is to move from a prone position, never mind actually speak to anyone. Level Sedentary is about those days when, for whatever reason, you are just saying ‘no’. I got the name from a fitness tracking app, which seemed to delight in ridiculing me for my off days. Telling me the ‘level’ I had achieved was ‘sedentary’ as opposed to ‘active’ or ‘highly active’ or ‘performative fitness influencer’ or whatever.
“I also heard John Cooper Clarke say something like, you need two things to be a writer, a pen and idleness. I want to celebrate idleness in this song although it does have an undercurrent of poor mental health too. I suppose you need a pinch of that to be a good writer, which is why I reference some famously depressed writers as well as fictional characters in the outro: ‘I’m Vonnegut, I’m Plath, I’m Proust, I’m Bonnie Grape, I’m Charlie Brown’.”
Although different and less intense than the previous single, the song carries the trademark emotionality usually found in a song by The Empty Page, while the production, helmed by Morton Kong at Eve Studios, Stockport, makes certain to emphasize the band's sound and musicality.
Giz, guitarist and songwriter for The Empty Page, unfolds: “Level Sedentary is another track we took apart and put back together in the studio. There are loads of pianos at Eve, and Kel started banging out doomy, droney chords on them, it sounded great as another layer to add to the track.
“The original guitar ideas were inspired by 90’s alt and college rock bands like Pavement, Sonic Youth and The Flaming Lips. We were going for a bit of a post punk Gang of Four type vibe although I think the recording has turned out more cinematic and art rock sounding. The middle section or ‘freak storm’ as Kong called it is a really important part of the track for us, everything descends into chaos for a while, it’s uncomfortable, manic and noisy.
“Working with Morton has encouraged us to play around with ideas we might not have gone for before, we’re not just a band tracking simple songs, we’re taking time to play with our ideas more. It’s been a lot of fun.”
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