Rubblebucket have been a staple of the Brooklyn music scene for long enough now that it isn’t particularly surprising to hear co-founder Alex Toth casually throw around the names of all of their creative collaborators. The video for the latest single from Toth’s upcoming solo album as Tōth was initially set to co-star Orange Is the New Black’s Taylor Schilling before she called in sick ahead of the shoot, with Toth taking on both lead parts while buzzing around a backing band that features Mei Semones on guitar. “Easy” wasn’t even originally supposed to make the cut for And the Voice Said’s track list until the album’s producer Caroline Rose talked them into it.
To Rose’s point, “Easy” is hard to shake once you’ve heard it. A minimalist acoustic-grunge backing band sets the scene for a soaring chorus, where Toth’s Danielson-esque vocals dominate the track. “This song is an homage to overcoming self-hatred,” they share. “It’s maybe the simplest and most punk Tōth song I’ve ever released and it almost didn’t make the record. But Caroline was like, ‘Are you kidding me, this has to be on the album!’ When I was recording this in my apartment and screaming ‘I’m easy’ at the top of my lungs, my neighbor knocked on the door to make sure I was OK.”
The video sees Toth (and Toth-as-bug) dancing, crawling, and swarming across a loft space with nothing but Semones on guitar and Sarah Galdes on drums filling the hardwood. Given that the clip pays homage to Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (and perhaps Švankmajer’s Insects), I hope someone checked up on Schilling to ensure her human form. Watch the video below, and pre-order And the Voice Said here.
