Watching Water - Alias

First, a little bit of history and how I found Alias, jump to the asterisk if you can’t stomach it. Brendon “Alias” Whitney was the co-founder of the Anticon record label, which was confirmed “dissolved” in 2021 following a period of silence after Alias’ passing and the release of his posthumous album Less is Orchestra - a collaboration with Doseone. Anticon have worked various projects with my favourite hip hop artist, Richard “Buck 65” Terfy, including the compilation album Music For The Advancement of Hip Hop, and More Heart Than Brains as part of BikeForThree! - the latter made during one of Buck’s darkest times and is all the more poignant if you know the tale. I speculate listening to Buck is what lead me to Alias’ music, but anyway! We’re here to talk about Alias’ “Watching Water” from The Other Side of the Looking Glass album. 

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Honestly… I skip this song often, sometimes the sound just bugs me. But that’s what’s special about it, when it finds me in the right mood it devastates. A scene is built by a window, rain is falling and inspiration is hard to find. Alias goes on to capture the loneliness of an anxious, overactive mind; and the post-dismissive longing, regret and fear felt by those of us who often run away from or abandon things that we just don’t know how to handle.

I wish sometimes I wouldn't reminisce so much
Such things, tend to make one reflect and dissect situations to an extreme
Hard now to redeem what was there before
No more gone are those days and ways have parted

Gone from feeling solid trust to outsmarted

Be prepared to feel the wake of regret and guilt for the people-turned-life-fragments after listening to this one. It’s amazing the way someone can inspire a feeling you know so well, make you feel at home in it and convince you you’ve got a pretty damn good idea of what it is to be human. The best part in deciding to share this song? While getting the YouTube link I realised the version I was listening to wasn’t the whole track, and Alias brings us back down gently (and bringing a lot more sense to the hook)…

And now my burden weights a ton
But it only makes me stronger and I refuse to break
I'm letting things pass by for the family's sake
Just give me a picture of the truth so I can hold it near

And watch the rainfall, syncopated with one lonesome tear

Rest easy, Alias. 

https://youtu.be/m9n3nX8u7RQ?si=ZgV-VXks8c8zG5eY