Landlines, music industry deals, CRT TVs and Total Slacker’s Tucker Rountree; press photo video still courtesy of the artist.

Imagine if the blind ambition and hubris of our contemporaneous culture of self-deification was exhibited through an analogous lens and style. The society of being your own cult of personality influencer by way of the social media platform of choice doused in the nifty concrete swimming pools of 1990s status symbol lore. In a modern day world where everything seems to be broken and you and everyone you know has succumbed to a level of insufferability. You can barely stand yourself and the anxiety of large groups stills looms large in this post-pandemic paradigm, and yet you're still going for that imaginary pot of gold at the end of the cadmium cast rainbow. When the constructs of truths have been hijacked by the dubious bad actors of the misinformation/disinformation variety and human contact has been supplanted by bots and AI intermediaries — we all still want to be the big cheese. The world might be well gone, yet we all still want to rule it like the post-romantic Tears for Fears song goes. And for all this what do we get? What did we really want? Who do we want to be? How did we get here? How do we negotiate a desire to be at the top when that tier has long since been toppled, compromised and co-opted by other Machiavellian usurpers of equal drive and determination?

Total Slacker’s Tucker Rountree addresses this conundrum in the new single and visual for “Chlorine” from the iconic artful dodger’s upcoming fifth album. Juxtaposing the rabid road raging interstates to nowhere of our current states of disconnect by casting the specter from the end of the previous millennium, the double helix of mindless performative mindfulness is mixed with the antiquated aesthetics of the previous dial-toned decades. The everybody is a star mentality that has manifested into the living the best life ever projections of current era showboating is lampooned with a sharp and wry critique that is told through the the camp of classic lifestyles of the rich and famous types of pomp and bourgeois circumstance of yesteryear’s swells and swanky socialites.

"Chlorine" is Tucker Rountree's take on today's obsessions with clout chasing through the stylistic similes of latter twentieth century jacuzzi jet setters. The Total Slacker sound and playful visual style is in full effect, with lyrical wordplay on the something in the water concept that focuses on the titular "Chlorine" and the vanity wishes that ring out in the chorus hook of a swimming pool in every dream. Tucker takes the piss out of every self-centered fever dream of self-aggrandizing in these days of late capitalism and minimal to zero returns on investments. "Chlorine" is about the empirical and fool’s errands to be the biggest fish in an otherwise polluted lake that has been all dried up on account of climate degradation and general apathy and gross negligence. The throwback chords burn with a cryptic curiosity, cultivating the senses of paranoia and fear that drive the delusions to be the hegemonic king and/or queen in a world suffering from a memory loss that refuses to learn from any prior missteps. The visuals satirize the folly with a tongue-firmly-planted-in-cheek humor and grace, keeping the DIY dream of 90s counter culture shining with a smart wit that wonders if we as a humanity can ever revert our course, and find those mythic crystal clear waters that are uninhibited by the wastes from our own toxic refuse and the chemicals that create the façade and teal blue veneer of faux cleanliness.

Poolside rocking through the negative lens with Total Slacker; video still courtesy of the artist.

Tucker Rountree shared some exclusive notes on the new single, the upcoming new album and more:

"Chlorine" is the first single off the upcoming fifth LP (I cant believe this is my fifth album already!)
Any quote I have about the songs meaning or concept is really in the lyrics:

Walk a dog through the fog, study laws fatal flaws…hot tip go far, you wanna be a movie star, there’s something in the chlorine, a swimming pool in every dream...you’re the best get some rest, wear a vest if your worried ‘bout shootings...drop a vase hide your face, look for shade ‘cause you’ll melt away.

Total Slacker’s Tucker Rountree having a moment; video still courtesy of the artist.

There's a featured jazz drummer from the Berklee College of Music on this recording, his name is Bobby James. The interesting modulated chord progression which is a peculiar IV V progression where the flat 5 becomes the new 6 minor using parallel fifths.

Total Slacker’s single “Chlorine” is available now.

VIDEO PREMIERE | Total Slacker, "Chlorine"