We live inside a magical realism nocturne. Like a twentieth century novella exploring the deepest recesses and extents of the unconscious, our existence of wakened life has us navigating the labyrinthine corridors in a real life odyssey that feels ripped from the collegiate textbook pages of influential mythologies of heroes, villains and other valorous tales of derring-do. In the aftermath of the unprecedented events that shut down our world more or less for over the course of recent years, the ecosystems of our inner thought spaces have been our collective domiciles of dwelling. From here we have explored those unfulfilled goals and desires as well as the underlying anxiety and paranoia of anything and everything that scares us. From rising above our humble circumstances to battling antagonistic agents that gatekeep our progress, these daydreams and nightmares have become amplified as they surface from the depths of internal shadow plays to the mainstages of our mind's theatrical showcases.

Facing these dream angels and demons head on is Spirit Award on their new album The Fear, presenting the world debut of the wild visuals for “Pushing Forward”. The brainchild of Seattle’s Daniel Lyon along with bassist Chris Jordan of Sunny Day Real Estate, Lyon co-directs the video with Eric Luck to deliver a slice of psychotropic wonderland of the wild and weird. Daniel delves into the kaleidoscope of consciousness, orchestrating the underbelly cacophonies of chaos into a succinct midnight movie that turns to face the strangeness that lurks from within the mental sum of all fears.

"Pushing Forward" begins by following our protagonist Daniel Lyon walking home in time to the rhythmic beat to enjoy an otherwise quiet night at home by a roaring fire place. But just as the ominous chords and anxious lyrics allude to, a couple of curious Kubrickian characters enter into the picture to disrupt Daniel's peaceful winter's eve. Given a mysterious goblet of who knows what; montages of musical madness, erratic behavior, botanical bouquet play and mind expanding visions spill out into the concrete highways and street corridors of reality. The mysterious characters with the gold mask and black cross glasses take Lyon for a surreal ride out on the town where our humble adventurer is met with moods of extreme elation, exhilaration, the throes of ecstasy and other heightened emotions that defy the lexicons of simple definitions. After an epic journey and jog of speeding with such a velocity through the psychological chambers of beings, the mysterious couple tucks our hero in for the evening (accompanied by an adorable, furry canine companion). And this you would assume is where the dream of the absurd comes to an end, right before a new trip begins — this time with Lyon donning that foreboding golden mask.

Daniel Lyon provided some reflections on the video for “Pushing Forward”:

This idea for this song came about at a time of growth and realization, during some sleepless nights. I had so many things getting thrown my way throughout my musical career; vans getting broken into, gear stolen, rehearsal space getting robbed, identity getting stolen, van getting stolen, health problems and most of all financial problems. The worst of all these has been a post-pandemic landscape which has changed how bands tour and put out music and try to make a living doing so. This has not only affected musicians but also music venues. Throughout all this, as a person and as a musician, I have always tried to keep pushing forward. So this song became a motivation to do so and sort of a rallying cry for our music community. I am thankful to have had the support of MusiCares and friends that helped me through a journey of growth and discovery. And knowing that no matter how low things get, there is hope.

Daniel shared insights on the dread, anxiety and other undercurrents that contributed to the upcoming album The Fear.

The album was written over a year of doing a lot of reflection and working on myself for some behaviors and patterns I wanted to change for me and my relationships with others. This included; therapy, psychedelic therapy, sleep hypnosis, meditation and many books and podcasts. I used writing this album as a cathartic way to release energy and explore feelings. The general idea of The Fear is to take whatever you are afraid of and run into it and yell fuck you into its face, diminish its power and turn away from things or patterns that don't serve you and become who you know you are deep inside. I think as a society we have been so conditioned to turn away from confrontation, or things that are difficult or hard, but if you can turn and face those and go through it, be uncomfortable; there is so much joy, freedom and enlightenment on the other side. I think with most of my music there is a hugely positive element in all of it at the end and I hope people see that or that this takes them on their own journey of self-discovery and that we are all capable of so much.

Spirit Award’s The Fear will be available May 19 via Share It Music.