Musician and animator Sean Solomon had great expectations. But when his hopes for an abundant world crashed against an unforgiving reality, he decided to feel nothing. For a time, the Los Angeles-born-and-raised singer/songwriter and cartoonist/animator gave into the void, but artistic expression can be a release valve – a way to comprehend the world and build community, which is exactly what Solomon does on his debut solo album The World Is Not Good Enough, which is out now via his new label home of ANTI- Records.
“These songs are almost coming from a place of childlike expectations,” says musician and animator Sean Solomon of The World Is Not Good Enough, his debut album which is out now via Anti- Records. The album artwork features his own hand-drawn cover art in the vein of children’s author/illustrator Richard Scarry.
Sean Solomon – ‘Remember’ (Official Video)
Solomon takes stock of his personal history on ‘Remember,’ which comes with a video comprising clips taken from Sean’s family’s home movies. “My parents asked me to digitize our old family videos, and I ended up cutting them up into a music video and the visuals I perform live with,” Sean explains. “I’ve noticed at shows people really connect with this song and it reminds them of their own families. I think it’s hard for most people to have empathy for their parents because they are supposed to serve this purpose in our lives where they take care of us and know what’s right or wrong … But everyone has both sides to them. This song is about trying to remember the good.”
An arbiter of “intimate and contemplative indie-folk” (Paste), animator and musician Sean Solomon intimate single ‘Black Hole’ echoes the stripped-down, raw ache of The Microphones’ ‘The Glow Pt. 2’.
Sean Solomon – ‘Black Hole’ (Official Video)
“When I was 15, I went to a psych ward. I was doing too many drugs and finally they caught up with me,” Sean explains of the song, which holds nothing back as he works to understand how a drug-related psychotic episode impacted his familial relationships as well as the one he has with himself. “This eventually led me to getting sober and focusing on music and art,” Sean continues. “I haven’t had an episode since, but I think about that moment all the time. It not only changed who I am as a person but also an artist.”
‘Black Hole’ is the continuation of Solomon’s multimedia world-building, which previously included the songs (with Solomon-crafted animated videos) ‘Car Crash’ and ‘Shooting Star.’ His music is a blend of emotional vulnerability, humour, pathos, and joy set against a backdrop of DIY-leaning indie rock; just loose enough where the seams show, but the foundation never falls apart.
This week, ahead of the release of his debut solo album The World Is Not Good Enough he shared the album track ‘Finish Line’, which speaks to these themes as they pertain to careers and landing your “dream job”.
Sean Solomon – ‘Finish Line’ (Official Video)
“I work in animation and I’ve had tons of development deals where I think I’m going to create my own animated series,” Solomon explains. “If they greenlight your show, suddenly you’re rich and have this awesome creative job. But every time I’ve almost had my dream job, there’s some corporate merger or layoffs and suddenly everyone I work with is fired and my dreams are squashed. That’s when I wrote the opening line “I thought I saw the finish line but I was on a treadmill the whole time.”
He continued: “The song evolved into being about something more universal. How I expected more from the world. Not just for me but the people in my life that I love and see struggling. Everyone was going through some sort of rejection, and it felt unfair that you could work just as hard or harder than anyone else and still get the short end of the stick.”
In addition to animating each video he releases, Solomon has also been cooking up comics with his lyrics in word balloons for each new song. He even drew his stage plot and tech rider by hand: “All the stuff that’s annoying about being a musician, I’m like, ‘How can I do this in a creative way so that it doesn’t feel like work, and it feels like something that’s inspired?’” So that he can integrate his animated visuals into his live shows, Solomon has lugged a vintage TV set armed with a VHS input to each venue, the animations and backing tracks running on tape being the only bandmates he shares the stage with.
Sean Solomon
The World Is Not Good Enough
1. Car Crash
2. Finish Line
3. Shooting Star
4. Overdose
5. Remember
6. Postcard
7. Blackhole
8. Korpo
