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Quarantunes: Seasaw looks for light in the darkness on “Inventor”

Quarantunes: Seasaw looks for light in the darkness on “Inventor”

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Live music is on hiatus, but that hasn’t stopped Madison area artists from putting out new work. With Quarantunes, we’ll spotlight recent releases in the time of lockdown.

Despite months of warning, it still seems like the coronavirus pandemic popped up overnight. “Inventor,” a new tune from Madison duo Seasaw, reflects that.

It is a representation of an uncertain world; “Inventor” was composed in the early days of the crisis, when everything was going zero-to-60. Seasaw’s Eve Wilczewski says the song came to her as she struggled to adapt. Lyrically, it illustrates the depressive slog of life under quarantine: “Days I can’t get out of bed,” she asks an unnamed partner, “is this what you pictured?” It’s much sadder than Seasaw’s usually breezy indie pop, but “Inventor” presents the constant bummer with a wink.

“Even though this song is probably one of the saddest I’ve written, it’s sad in a self-deprecating way. I can laugh at it and I can cry about it,” says Wilczewski. “That is the exact headspace almost every single person I talk to is in. We all seem to be wavering between two extremes. The lyrics are relatable because we are all experiencing these raging and mixed-up feelings, at the same time, in isolation.”

She took it to Meg Golz, Seasaw’s other half, to add synthesizers and harmonies. (Wilczewski recorded her part of the video first, and Golz added to it using her airpods.) When Golz mentioned that the submission deadline for NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest had been extended, the pair decided to go for it.

“This is the first time we have ever written something completely brand new and then used it for something merely days later,” Wilczewski says. “It was because of Meg’s devotion to getting the song to a finished Seasaw place by adding all the synths and vocals that we were able to submit the track to NPR.”

It’s indicative of the band’s chemistry that both members constantly defer to praising the other. For her part, Golz calls it “exhilarating” to work on a song that could be so dark and catchy at the same time.

“This song was so immediately stuck in my head the first time I listened that I couldn’t tear myself away from learning it and experimenting with it to the point my hands were cramping and I was physically unable to keep playing the synth,” she says. “Having something new to work on while stuck in isolation really gave me an extra spark of energy that I really needed to become more OK with the situation we are all in.”

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