Over the years, (Sandy) Alex G has been an experimental indie force, and he’s not letting up. Today, he shared the experimental new song “Rosebush,” which is also accompanied by a surreal poem.
The song is an instrumental, built on a simple piano riff and a propulsive dancehall-inspired beat. There’s more going on beyond that, and it’s a surprisingly catchy song. The YouTube upload of the track has the audio scoring a slowly zooming out image of a poem, a peculiar piece of writing that focuses on a character named Joanna, surprise flowers, and the best instance of singing cats in a while.
Listen to the song above, and read the poem below.
“In a dream, black flowers grew around her bed. She picked one and held it close to her face, twirling it by the stem. What a wonderful mess, she thought. How did these blossoms get here overnight?
Joanna woke. The sun through her bedroom window made it impossible to go back to sleep. She left the bedroom, walked down the stairs and through the hall to the kitchen.
What songs will you sing for me? She asked the birds from her kitchen window. The window above the kitchen sink overlooked her garden, out of which grew a great rosebush surrounded by spring flowers.
The birds go around the rosebush. Yes and they sing and fly to the trees at the edge of the property. Joanna listened to their songs and smiled as she filled her teapot with water.
Plunk plunk goes the piano.
Whose song is this? Joanna asked the piano. She sat on the bench and positioned her fingers over the keys.
Plunk plunk plunk plunk.She left a window open in the night. Three gray cats crawled through the window into Joanna’s home. Being so busy at the piano, Joanna didn’t see or hear the cats prowling and purring in the room.
The three cats, moved by Joanna’s song, began to sing:
Crawl back to your hole, rat!
Crawl back to your hole, rat!
Crawl back to your hole, rat!
Crawl back to your hole, rat!
Crawl back to your hole, rat!
Crawl back to your hole, rat!
Crawl back to your hole, rat!
Crawl back to your hole, rat!
Crawl back to your hole, rat!
Crawl back to your hole, rat!
Crawl back to your hole, rat!
Crawl back to your hole, rat!
Crawl back to your hole, rat!
Crawl back to your hole, rat!
Crawl back to your hole, rat!
Crawl back to your hole, rat!
Crawl back to your hole, rat!
Crawl back to your hole, rat! Crawl back to your hole, rat!”