PHONY – “The Middle”

This week, Joyce Manor touring guitarist Neil Berthier is releasing AT SOME POINT YOU STOP, his latest album under the name PHONY. We’ve heard “Kaleidoscope” and “Summer’s Cold” from it already, and today he’s back with another new single, “The Middle.” “I had a tough time dealing with my father’s dementia conceptually,” Berthier shared in a statement. “To cope, I wrote letters to get my feelings out there, knowing no one would see them. It was more helpful than I thought it would be. This song is about wishing there was a recipient to eventually read these letters, knowing that’s not possible.”

“The concept is that of a body-horror procedure that plugs Neil into a simulation,” music video director Dom Vaugh added. “The VR setup Neil is connected to in the beginning of the video allows one to experience a kind of cosmic gumbo of abject loneliness and his happiest memories.”

Watch and listen below.

AT SOME POINT YOU STOP is out 7/29 via PHONY INDUSTRIES. Pre-order it here.