CHAD’s “Leonard Nimoy” is a Wistful Breakup Song Acknowledging How It’s Better to Hurt and Feel Than to Pretend You Feel Nothing

CHAD1_crop — CHAD, photo courtesy the artists

In calling its new single “Leonard Nimoy,” CHAD from Portland, Oregon casts an interesting image. Most people who know who Leonard Nimoy is sees him as Mr. Spock from Star Trek, a character who seems devoid of emotions played by a highly emotional human. But even in the Star Trek universe the Vulcans have merely tightly controlled their emotions through social engineering to avoid the violent conflicts of their distant past. This song is about the desire to have that kind of control but how as a real human you can’t fully escape your feelings and at times we feel like we’re controlled by them. In the context of certain relationships this emotional conflict takes on the metaphor of a storm when weather systems come together. Musically its like a baroque kind of pop the likes of which you might hear on a Chromatics record or something Julee Cruise might do if she’d come up through listening to 90s indie pop. Although melancholic and wistful the song is brimming with regret that things can’t and won’t work out, giving the tone of the song an emotional complexity that isn’t obvious. Listen to “Leonard Nimoy” on Soundcloud and follow CHAD at the links provided.