A resounding dream pop upheaval, “Animals & Trees” aches with depth, pain, and passion as Bathe Alone delivers a powerful message to save our environment and protect Earth’s wildlife.
for fans of Beach House, Mazzy Star, Low, Cigarettes After Sex
Stream: “Animals & Trees” – Bathe Alone
To some people, it hurts them more to see a human distressed than an animal distressed. That’s why we kept the animals as human-like as possible.
Animals can’t talk, but if they could, they would surely scream at humans for our insensitive, indiscriminate destruction of the planet. Entire ecosystems have been lost forever; over 900 species have gone extinct in the last five centuries alone, most as a result of human engagement and interactions.
There’s only one Earth, and we have to do better. We have to treat our home with respect and care, and do right by our fellow inhabitants – from the animals to the trees. Atlanta’s Bathe Alone captures this urgent, important message in her mesmerizing new single: A resounding dream pop upheaval, “Animals & Trees” aches with depth, pain, and passion Bathe Alone reminds us what we stand to lose if we keep on the current path.
They come and go
Patient so lonely
They do what they told
Animals and trees
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering the Nic Huey directed music video for “Animals & Trees,” Bathe Alone’s third release of 2022 and the latest single off her forthcoming sophomore album, Fall With the Lights Down (out later this year). The artist moniker of Atlanta-based multi-instrumentalist Bailey Crone, Bathe Alone’s ethereal and often atmospheric dream pop music is as intimate and spiritually energizing as it gets: 2021’s debut album Last Looks set a firm foundation of lush, sweeping, and stirring indie rock and pop brimming with as much tension as release. Meanwhile, her most recent singles “Decades & Dreams” and “Waste It” blend hazy shoegaze with tempered nuance and a delicate grace that puts more emphasis than ever on the artist’s mindful vocal performance and word choice.
“Animals & Trees” is an especially moving marriage of substance and sound.
Bathe Alone glows with a singular sonic and emotional radiance as she sings about animal rights and deforestation (quite literally, animals and trees). Her delivery is both critical and captivating; she sings with a dreamy, deeply heartfelt resonance:
Tear down their homes
Looking for money
You try to find god
They can’t find family
The “Animals & Trees” music video sheds even more light on the song’s meaning and message.
It’s a tad tongue-in-cheek, but decidedly stark, dark, and serious all at the same time, finding humans wearing various animal masks roaming downtown Atlanta. Our raccoon-masked protagonist searches for their kin, showing passersby a picture of their family (two raccoons) in the hopes that they might have seen them around.
“The masks are inherently goofy and ridiculous — however the message of the video is anything but. I want people to feel that ridiculousness in the beginning and even be confused at first. “What are all these masks about? They’re animals in a band?'” Bathe Alone’s Bailey Crone tells Atwood Magazine. “The idea was to humanize the animals — because yeah, raccoons don’t actually look like that and wear clothes or pay for Marta and carry a picture frame of their mom. But to some people, it hurts them more to see a human distressed than an animal distressed. That’s why we kept the animals as human-like as possible.”
“I hope the message of deforestation and animal rights is really driven home by the end. That was one thing I was absolutely adamant about when conceiving this video with Nic Huey — it could not have a happy ending. A happy ending would be a disservice to the truth.”
Alas, our protagonist’s quest is unsuccessful: She turns up at what was supposed to be a forest, but to her (and our collective) dismay the clearing has been bulldozed; all signs of life are gone, with not a tree (nor a raccoon) in sight. It’s a bittersweet ending that humanizes raccoons and all other animals whose habitats, and therefore lives, are disrupted and destroyed by deforestation.
They say, “You can stay
And go to sleep
But when the sun comes up you’ll have to leave
It the way I left it
Oh promise me
I guess I won’t be living my life for me
The idea was to humanize the animals — because yeah, raccoons don’t actually look like that and wear clothes or pay for Marta and carry a picture frame of their mom.
Again, we only get one shot at life. We can’t afford to ruin the Earth; we need it far more than it needs us. Bathe Alone’s wondrous music tugs at the heartstrings, imploring us to think of the raccoon who’s forever lost her family; the bird with no tree to land in, or nest to call home; the beaver with no place to make its dam; and so on.
Inspiring and immersive, “Animals & Trees” is the dreamy, urgent wake up call we needed.
Bathe Alone’s sophomore LP Fall With The Lights Down is set to release later this year. For now, stream “Animals & Trees” exclusively on Atwood Magazine!
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Stream: “Animals & Trees” – Bathe Alone
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