Up-and-coming indie artist Jake Minch releases new single, “strip mall”
Singer-songwriter Jake Minch is back at it again with the release of his third studio single, “strip mall.” Minch continually sets the bar higher and higher with each and every single one of his releases, never failing to cultivate indie folk perfection. He continues his traditional style of soft and raw instrumentals accompanied by delicate and heartfelt vocals in “strip mall,” and it pays off so wonderfully once again.
It’s difficult to listen to a Jake Minch track without feeling a sense of deja vu; his songs always create a sorrowfully tranquil sense of home. The lyrical content of “strip mall” only manages to further curate Minch’s signature sense of congeniality. Minch details life in a manner that makes the listener feel as if their own words or memories are being recited, striking just the right feelings right when he needs to.
The song opens with the lines “in your bedroom / on the floor next to your bed / probably under but over the carpet / there’s a t-shirt I want back … in december I saw you were in it / at a strip mall when I came to visit,” painting the connection between the two people in the song as somber and ruminative.
While Minch talks about the shirt he wants back, the world built by the singer in “strip mall” signifies that the physical object is not as important as the emotional implications of the situation.
Minch beautifully narrates the detrimental impact that time and circumstance can have on relationships in “strip mall.” Minch explores the wide array of emotions that come alongside both physical and emotional distance, demonstrating how the complex mixtures of melancholy, hatred, and confusion brew feelings of uncertainty and hopelessness within people.
The songwriter sings that “I pray that I see you again / there’s no other way I can turn it / you were the best thing that I ever had” near the end of the song, coming to terms with the reality of his situation. Despite the overwhelming impact of the memories Minch expresses throughout “strip mall,” it’s love, sentimentality, and nostalgia that appear to triumph over everything at the end.
While we can hope and pray to bump into a small glimpse of our past in a strip mall just as Jake Minch describes in his latest song, we can never fully unwind the hands of time. People deny, they hate, they panic, and do almost everything they could possibly imagine in an attempt to prevent our world from changing; however, it’s an inevitable fate that we simply have to accept. While a grim reality, that’s the lesson Jake Minch appears to learn in his latest song, “strip mall.”