The visual for LAYNE‘s latest single “Linnea” was filmed with a small quarantine crew in her apartment and in a nearby park, but restrictions breed creativity. Colorful transitions fuse analog Super 8 footage with iPhone footage of a computer screen for digital grain. “I wanted it to feel a certain way, there wasn’t necessarily a storyline of anything like that,” explains LAYNE, otherwise known as Layne Putnam. “I wanted to feel like you could take a screen grab of the video and it would aesthetically match the song.” Director Connor Ellmann helped her bring that vision to life.
Putnam has coined many aspects of her state of being, from her musical sound (a spectrum of pop and alternative from the 90s to now) to her sexuality as “the in-between,” and the video for “Linnea” captures this beautifully with a mixture of different mediums and shots that waver from modern to retro.
The song itself is about coming to terms with the cycle of life. “I’ve always had a fear of losing my parents because of trauma in my childhood and stuff. I was having really bad anxiety and I wrote this song about a phone call with my mom and it was a really emotional phone call. It was just about thinking about the inevitable that eventually my parents will die,” explains Putnam. “The song is talking about my mom and thinking about the particles floating through my room and knowing that she’s going to be there even when she’s not.”
Linnea is her mom’s name, but the song is also about the idea of whoever you love being a part of you even if they’re not there. This is especially true with your parents, because you’re literally made out of them. The song was born in Putnam’s bedroom at the start of the pandemic. It poured out of her within thirty minutes as she played guitar over a drum loop, and was finished with the help of Devon Corey (DVNCY).
In the new year, Putnam is setting out to release a new song every month, with a new sound that is leaning more in the direction of 90s alt rock. “I think music right now is opening up to what I’ve always wanted to make,” she says. “I’ve always listened to a lot of indie and late 90s alternative and stuff like that.” In her upcoming releases, we can expect nods to both Pixies and old Avril Lavigne and Hillary Duff records.
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