Lifting weights at the gym — that’s a topic that’s not my business. Not interested in it, quite frankly. Yet Chicago’s Stuck have managed to turn it into the poetic subject of “Deadlift,” their phenomenal new single from their forthcoming record Optimizer.
“I have become somewhat of a gym rat over the last several years,” Greg Obis admits. “Lifting weights has been indispensable for my physical and mental health. And yet, when I’m in a dark place, the gym can sometimes underscore feelings of loneliness and futility. ‘Deadlift’ uses the gym as a way to look at how atomized we have become; fixating on ourselves in public, locked into our fitness routines with our headphones, barely acknowledging the other people in the room, optimizing our wellness while racing to a red light.”
The riffs are poignant, the bassline is intense, and the lyrics are brilliant: “Headphones in/ Eyes locked on my figure a room full of men/ Ignoring each other.” Watch the Austin Vesely-directed music video below.
Optimizer is out 3/27 via Exploding In Sound.
