ARTIST INTERVIEW: HECKYL “FREE FALLING DOWN”
“We live on our phones, and sometimes we just need to step back and think about what we might be missing, like actually talking one to one,” said Heckyl.
The endless scrolling down from one image to another, switching back and forth from one conversation to another, anxiously awaiting the next message. Our attention span seems to be shorter than ever. Words lost their warmth. The moment when you’re waiting for the bus or your food, and you look around wishing to talk to someone, but everyone’s looking down at their phones. The constant pressure to collect likes through a pretend perfection terrified for a harsh comment over an unnoticeable flaw. People seem more judgmental and intolerant of each other.
“Who are we?
Scrolling through a screen for a feeling
and it carries no meaning
how empty, must we be to search for likes for attention….”Heckyl “Free Falling Down”
The lonely feeling and harmful comment catch up with you, pushing your head into the water. “Free Falling Down” reflects a collective fast-paced, anxious energy of emptiness in the digital age. The desire for human touch underneath anxiety, stress, and loneliness penetrates the wall of intelligent sound.
Photo credit: Kris Humphreys Photography
Heckyl, aka Luke Potter, was raised in a musical family with his father playing in The Affair (Simon Cowell Record), but The Goo Goo Doll’s “Iris” was the real pivotal moment in his pursuit of music.
“That’s the first time I ever connected with music on an emotional level. I remember being in the back seat of the car, crying my eyes out to this song I’d never heard before. When you’re a teenager, you think nobody understands the way you feel, but I remember being overwhelmed with a sense of ‘I need to make other people feel the way I feel right now.”
The initial encounter with music eventually led to the Heckyl project, which shares the desire to communicate lonely thoughts and emotions through creativity.
“A monster underneath my bed, but at night he crawls into my head.” The feelings you might not fully comprehend, the thoughts you couldn’t share with anyone; or the moments feeling like something was tearing you apart from the inside — Heckyl aims at bringing balance through vocalizing the madness with love and creativity.
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