Song Review: “Levity” by TV Battle Stations
Memory may be intangible, but its suffocating potential is very real. By design, it is both neutral and inevitable. Neither moral nor immoral, yet its hold over our lives is insidious. It’s an unappreciated gift not to think twice about how to get home from work, or to remember to blink and breathe. But when a fleeting sight, smell, or sound unearths something long buried, the weight is crushing. It’s devastating. Becoming so easily derailed by memory’s fickle whims. Mistaking its unpredictability for your own weakness, when in truth it’s just the flawed circuitry of synaptic plasticity all of humanity shares. It’s harrowing.
Still, there is beauty in being held hostage to the capricious whim of your mind. We can be so rigid, diligent, and careful yet still get tripped up because the faint detection of a seasoning in a dish is so intrinsically intertwined with that first date or that last fight. Yes, memory can wound and unravel us, but it’s also a testament to how deeply we’ve lived. How much meaning we’ve given to such innocent moments that should be otherwise forgotten the second they end. These memory triggers can be fractures in an already tenuous state of mind, but they also signal that life is not lived in a sterile control experiment. It’s lived on the messy margins where all the senses bleed into who we are and become defining features in the back of our mind.
In “Levity,” the debut single from Richmond duo TV Battle Stations, this bittersweet paradox unfolds with striking clarity. Patient words, a tender melody, and a taut atmosphere all capture the ache of grateful remembrance, cherishing the proof of a life fully lived, even as the ability to feel it seems nearly drained away. Stirring in every sense, it captures the total surrender memory demands of us in these moments. Still, it leaves plenty of room for the grace and understanding needed to make new memories again, ones just as mundane and vital as the ones that evoke such pause.
TV Battle Stations is comprised of Spencer Berry, known for his work with indie pop artist Catie Lausten, and Ava Coles, known for her work with honky-tonk goof rock group Bucko. Together, they venture into new terrain, one more emotionally fraught than their past work, but more open to moments of catharsis and compassion. At times, this runs parallel with their other work, but in key moments, you can feel the sharp detour into bold territory for both, one that demands more of the duo, which they happily accept.
“Levity in passing time alone,” Coles croons in the song’s opening, her voice steeped in lingering poignancy, immediately setting the tone for its emotional weight. As the words continue, she drifts through the song’s hesitant air, guided by memories of the past yet yearning for them to resurface in her future (“Waiting til I turn to the next page\ Waiting til I see your curls dance round your face“). Around her, the music stirs in a makeshift rhythm, echoing her fragile state, trying to clear the fog from her mind while inadvertently adding more gust and gravity to its swell. Slowly but surely, the music rises to match that dense emotional vapor before erupting in the song’s climax with an unspoken epiphany of distressing understanding.
The lyrics act as a compass within this strained soundscape, with memories beginning as curious observations before curdling into painful obsessions that dwell on the darker, negative edges (“Sun-stained\ Edges are frayed\ Stitches all laid bare“). Yet Coles delivers these moments with tempered conviction, suggesting that all is not truly lost. Hope persists, even if tangled in the drafty strands of smoky heartache and silvery regret. In the background, Berry’s textured instrumentation mirrors this emotional ebb and flow, subtly underpinning the song’s quieter passages before boldly asserting itself during its more wrenching moments. Here, an electric commentary is added to the narrative, matching that visceral and instinctual feeling this type of contemplation can bring.
Ultimately, “Levity” is a sharp deliberation of the delicate balance between holding on and letting go, a negotiation dictated not by choice but by the very fabric of our souls. It is up to the mind and heart to decide whether we are undone by the past or sustained by it. All we can do is recognize the beauty around us, even in sorrow.
“Levity” is out now on all streaming platforms. To stay up-to-date on future news and releases from TV Battle Stations, make sure to follow them on Instagram.
