James Leonard Hewitson’s “Stable” is the Most Upbeat Song About Barely Holding On of Recent Days

James Leonard Hewitson, photo by Hollie Galloway

James Leonard Hewitson is on to something on his single “Stable.” It as an upbeat synth melody that runs buoyantly throughout the song like something out of an 80s pop song while a jangly guitar riff accents the verses. And the music video for the song looks like some misguided commercial for local television with a real estate broker/house flipper standing in front of one of his ill designed signs ready to tell you how you can make your fortune in buying and selling suburban homes. But the lyrics, delivered with a curiously cheerful affect, is all about how Hewitson, or the character of the song, is just doing what he can to keep himself stable which is why he’s emotionally unavailable. It’s a song about the kind of dissociation you can enter when modern life seems completely at odds with a healthy psychology and those that adapt might be the really mad ones. And Hewitson demonstrates this in a subtle but effective way by singing while reclining on the hood of a car, shirtless, smoking a cig and singing into a Shure SM-57, not some fancy-looking mic but one that has been a workhorse in the studio and on stages for decades. He looks unsure of himself and of you while conveying a sense of being relaxed at the same time which is a nice trick. It is perhaps one of the most effervescent songs about barely being able to hold on ever written and immensely catchy and worthy of repeated listens. Watch the video for “Stable” on YouTube and follow Hewitson at the links below.