We all experience nervousness, it’s an adage of being human, a remnant of our hunter-gatherer ancestors who relied on this feeling to stay alert in life-and-death situations. For most of us, this nervousness is no longer connected to survival, and yet that rush of adrenaline and cortisol still finds us in everyday situations. For VC Pines he experienced nervous excitement during meetings, shows and interviews. As he recalls, “having that much going on around me, I started to notice a change.” The rich imagery of the new song ‘Nervous’ evokes the physical changes and nervous tweaks that started to appear in stressful situations.
“I noticed the skin from around my nails and my nails themselves were almost non-existent from constantly picking away when having important meetings or deep in writing sessions when my brain was no longer on this planet.”
Delving deeper into the cause of his anxiety, Jack Mercer opens up about the desperation to be accepted for the methods he uses when writing, as can be heard in the lyrics “’still working out how to use my Synaesthesia, / If I focus too much, I get the colour fever, / Hoping one day that you could be the wild receiver, / Another smile all the while I’ll be underneath ya.’” Even the instrumental breaks in ‘Nervous’ harbour a message. They became the space for long-awaited answers to be offered. As Jack says, “Whatever it might be, I don’t know, but that’s how I like to fill those spaces in my head.”
Dates
3rd April – The Lexington Headline Show
10th April – Stockton Calling Festival
4th May – Live At Leeds
10th May – The Great Escape, Brighton (Fierce Panda Official Showcase)
6th June – The Crofters Rights, Bristol
7th June – The Castle, Manchester
Links
https://twitter.com/vcpines
https://www.instagram.com/vcpines
https://www.facebook.com/vcpines
