"I Don't Think About It (Too Much)" by Euan Blackman

It seems so recent that I was telling you about Euan Blackman's last single "Butterfly" that to discover that a month has in fact passed is a little shock. It's done well I gather & Euan advises that it has been playlisted at number 2 in Apple Music's "Acoustic Summer".

Regardless, Euan is so excited about sharing the next instalment of his third EP (‘Thunderstorms') that "I Don't Think About It (Too Much)" comes out today before the momentum if its predecessor has abated.

Again released on Ripe Records as part of his developing career which is leading him out of the bedroom & into the summer sun, it too is a product of his collaboration with producer Tarek Musa (who also mixed it) and again reflects his new era of working with another on his music, developing onwards from the purest DIY format yet within those parameters, retaining those characteristic elements (a combination of acoustic guitar & electronica: he cites Big Thief and Bleachers as useful touchstones for comparisons) which have built his fanbase thus far.

It must take a significant amount of courage to let someone else into your creative process when you have come so far with total autonomy. This applies especially considering Euan's style is so intimate (for example Wonderland magazine defines it as "…introspective and timeless, characterised by wistful, nostalgic melodies…"). If his basic instinct is to look inside himself, then trying to communicate what he finds in there to someone seeking to help him realise it, might be psychically a little traumatic. However, it is clearly a journey he relishes taking as he tells us that "the whole purpose of this EP is to create a bigger, more welcoming world for my music to live in."

In terms of the song itself, its creator tells us that ""I Don't Think About It (Too Much)" is all about avoidance. It's probably the closest I've got to writing something that kind of represents my generation. There's so much to worry and stress about nowadays - this song is an anthem for pushing it away sometimes. Producing this track - I wanted to get into a more poppy/electronic world. It's like a mix of The 1975, The Blue Nile with an Elliott Smith guitar part."

For an artist known almost exclusively for advocating reflection to issue something of a corrective by focusing on the dangers of over-thinking, is in itself, a signpost of a turning point in his writing. He's not disavowing his previous work, but introducing a balancing element, deploying karmic energy to ensure that in the long term, what he has to say is nuanced and avoids the perils of extremes: doubtless a statement of belief that will build over time & releases.

The question I suppose which is most obviously raised by this song (which I suppose can fairly be described as "pivotal") is how much this was a plan and how much a reaction? One might plausibly worry that Euan's long period of bedroom situated introspection had led to a sense of depression which needed addressing by the ideas encapsulated in the words of "I Don't Think About It (Too Much)" and in the shift to working with a producer & a record label. Well that would just be speculation, though it's consistent with what we know & people do rather expect reviewers to dabble at least a little in informed speculation.

By Euan's wistful standards, this is an upbeat number (the tempo is probably the quickest of all his released songs) and with meta-references to his own writing, he emerges from the world of mists & twilight into somewhere a bit more prosaic.  The instruments patter along quite chirpily, though Euan's trademark vocal sound retains that air of detachment which links it to what has gone before.

Only hindsight and a few more releases will place "I Don't Think About It (Too Much)" or ‘Thunderstorms' in their correct place in the context of Euan's work: pivotal, transitional or something else. So I'll come back to you on that. Whatever else though, this is a moment of significant change and unless it turns out to be a unique and otherwise aberrant song, does represent an evolutionary stage in his career.

All this search for a bigger meaning is however a little disrespectful to a song with its own (perky) charm which is capable of pleasing both the fans of the brooding Euan & potential new ones.