Single of the Week: “Lenny” by Atka

I keep trying to figure out what the story of “Lenny” actually is, which maybe why I’ve listened to it so much. Atka says, “This is a song about how one man’s tunnel-visioned obsession with finding meaning turns everything around him into a swamp of meaninglessness that also sucks in everyone around him. It’s witnessing empty repetition right in front of your eyes and the helplessness and all-limbs-dropping-to-the-floor exhaustion felt as a result, when caring for someone who is depressed. And ultimately it’s about the absence of being perceived by that person and one’s drift into a ghost-like state. When no one is watching or sees me – do I even exist? Lenny is about “reverse-paranoia” if you want it.” The song itself is heavy on the analog electronics, with a Kraftwerkian anxiety that somehow doesn’t sound like The Postal Service. All I know is I both really want to know Lenny, but I also don’t want Lenny to get dragged down by my own mental health. 

Anyways, you can also dig deep into the inner workings of “Lenny” and reading your own struggles with your own psyche into the song by streaming it here! Atka has plenty more coming your way, including an EP called The Eye Against The Ashen Sky, due out November 3rd!