Robert Kuhn Traverses Online Intimacy on New Single Screen Savior

Born in Houston Texas, poet and musician Robert Kuhn bounced around the world for six years before returning to Texas in 2010. There he would team up with local musicians like Little Joe Washington to record and release his debut album 'Everybody Knows',  a solid folk/ psychedelic rock effort. From there he'd go on to release 2017's 'Marina The Gun' which saw Kuhn honing on the musical ideas of his debut and creating a punchier and well-put-together set of folk-rock tunes.

Since then, Kuhn released two singles in 2020 and one single in 2021, and in 2022 he shows no signs of slowing down with his new release 'Screen Savior' which takes on the ways screens affect our relationships in a personal and insightful manner. 

Musically, the single wears its Bob Dylan and Doors influences on its sleeve. 'Screen Savior'  kicks off with a simple drum beat with tambourine accents, this remains fairly consistent throughout the track's runtime acting as a proverbial canvas for the other instruments to move across. The opening lyric comes in shortly after the intro, "You know what I talk about,  someday we'll figure it out.  Remember December? Used to be the other way. I can see you peeking hide and seeking screen savior behavior".

Khan's raspy and disaffected vocal delivery adds to the smoky atmosphere while a reverb and delay drenched guitar brush against the ambient synths every so often; all coalescing to paint this picture of the negative effects reliance on technology to convey certain more abstract emotions can cause if done incorrectly.

This point is abstracted in the refrain with the lines, "To activate the enemy and they already know where you are. Save your breath and stay." As the track progresses, guitar arpeggios and synth swirls whirl in the background with increasing intensity alongside accenting chimes before fading out in the last few measures. Leaving only the drum beat and tambourine by the song's end. 

Kuhn really tapped into the feeling of disillusionment and the sometimes negative and codependent relationships we can form with the augmented reflections of our friends and loved ones lives we see online on 'Screen Savior', making it a greatly arresting listen for fans of the genre.

Kenneth Butcher

@kazu_kb 

Image: 'Screen Savior' Official Single Cover