Anxiety is a bear—the sort of untamed beast that can only be felled by unconventional means. Remi Goode makes an uneasy peace with that realization on “Short Circuit” and its companion video. She may never be comfortable in social situations, but at least she’ll go out in an infectious blaze of jazzbo glory à la Rickie Lee Jones.
“It’s a sarcastic critique of my anxious thoughts and inner voices,” says Goode. “I wrote it with a throw-up-my-hands mentality while coming to the conclusion that all my struggles are self-inflicted. Anxiety makes so many situations seem so much bigger and more extreme than they are. As someone who often catastrophizes, I thought it would be fun to play into all the absolutes and exaggerations.”
Born and raised in Arizona, Goode is a classically trained guitarist who was also part of the nationally acclaimed Tucson Girls Chorus. Her partner in crime (and life) is Gabe Lehrer. The two met through their guitar teacher, and both are alums of the music program at Arizona State University. The ASU connection served the pair well as they began recording the songs that would eventually land on her upcoming debut, Things I’ve Said Before. Meanwhile, on the road, a delicate, deceptively intricate folk/Americana sound began taking shape as Goode, Lehrer and their small band of ASU pals performed around the Southwest in the early 2020s.
Now based in Nashville, Goode has an unfiltered confessional style along the lines of Suzanne Vega and Kathleen Edwards, though her classical training lends a certain malleability and open-endedness to Things I’ve Said Before. You get the sense that Goode is willing to go anywhere for the sake of the song, and there’s some of that on “Short Circuit.”
“The layered background vocals personify the embarrassed and self-critical voices inside my head and take jabs at the lead vocal,” says Goode. “In the music video, I wanted to play that up further by turning these voices into separate characters and letting them interact. I definitely didn’t have to do much acting to show my social anxiety in those party scenes.”
We’re proud to premiere Remi Goode’s “Short Circuit.” Things I’ve Said Before is out September 26.
—Hobart Rowland
See Remi Goode live.
