MURA MASA - I DON’T THINK I CAN DO THIS AGAIN FEAT CLAIRO

Mura Masa teams up with Clairo to take a cold, hard, twisted look at youth on "I Don't Think I Can Do This Again."

MURA MASA - I DON’T THINK I CAN DO THIS AGAIN FEAT CLAIRO

Western culture has a youth obsession. It makes sense. After all, when we're young, life is full of possibilities. You have all the time, energy, and passion in the universe. You look good. Everyone wants to know you. You're the image of hipness, of being on the cutting edge of things.

Yet, for many of us, when you really take a cold, hard look at what it was like being a teenager or early 20-something, you might admit it might not have been that great. The transition from childhood to early adulthood is chock full of bad decisions, pointless parties, questionable romance. We don't really know ourselves, at that point, so it's hard to ask for what you want, let alone need.

Yet it's not all bad. There's a lot to be said to a life without responsibilities. You have the time and energy to make a difference, to follow your dreams and create your bliss. It seems like the nights will last forever when you're young.

On his newest single, Mura Masa captures this contradiction with banging beats and buzzing basslines, guided by the golden throat of Clairo, fresh off of her own debut album, Immunity. Especially when you factor in the warped music video, which is like an amalgam of Richard Linklater's Boyhood and A Scanner Darkly, all rolled into one.

The video shows beautiful youth, basking in the twilight of an endless summer, skating, flirting, mugging for the camera. The skateboards and the faces twist and twine, like something from an Aphex Twin video, showing Mura Masa isn't exactly lionizing the young adult experience.

The music, however, is all euphoria, a pure dopamine rush of rave basslines and club beats. It's a throwback to perhaps Mura Masa's youth, bringing to mind the early indie electro of acts like LCD Soundsystem, when the combination of indie music and rave was a revelation.

For those of us who remember, you might have to admit that in certain respects, we've got it better now. Indie music and electronica are much more intertwined, these days, with human and machine living in harmony. Heck, even the twisty visuals of "I Don't Think I Can Do This Again"'s music video illustrates this point.

So here's the hyper-real. Here's to living in the moment and loving where you're at in life, no matter your age. We Are: The Guard are here to remind you that at least musically speaking, we've never had it better.

J. Simpson occupies the intersection between criticism, creativity, and academia. Based out of Portland, Or., he is the author of Forestpunk, an online journal/brand studying the traces of horror, supernatural, and the occult through music, fashion and culture. He plays in the dreamfolk band Meta-Pinnacle with his partner Lily H. Valentine, with whom he also co-founded Bitstar Productions, a visual arts collective focused on elevating Pop Culture to High Art.