Proper. showed up today with a new video for their song “Middle Management,” off of last year's Part-Timer EP. The video premiered over at Brooklyn Vegan this morning. BV said, “It’s a great song that goes from a punk rager to a celestial indie pop hook, and it culminates in a caustic post-hardcore coda.”
On the track, songwriter Erik Garlington shares: "A lot of artists have this goal of blowing up and never looking back, often not stopping to reflect when they reach those middle rungs of the ladder. It’s scary to think about willingly giving up your autonomy and privacy for fame and riches, to essentially become a brand that has to churn out ‘content’ around the clock. ‘Middle Management’ is about that ignored pocket of the music industry. Do I want to be a superstar or do I want to park it here and stay a moderately successful opener band? Especially for artists that don’t fit the safe mold of being straight, white, or male. When you’ve spent so much time fighting that uphill battle, will you look back someday and regret not going all in?
"With the entire concept of the EP being about glo’ing up, we thought it made sense for the music video to look like something a rapper would do. The flashy clothes, the neon ceiling and tunnels, and specifically putting those elements to this track. If you read the song lyrics without any music you’d think they were pulled from a rap song. The braggadocio, doting on our accomplishments, but also pondering on our place in the game and wondering if we’re reaching our full potential.
“Keeping with the theme, we decided to work with our long time friend and collaborator, Chris Salyers. We shot our video for A$AP Rocky Type Beat with him back in 2019. This EP is our first effort after truly being back outside, so to speak. So we wanted to showcase both ours, and Chris’ growth. Previously every video was shot outside, this time around we’ve got this great location to match the intensity of the song. We opted for a full performance video as well for the same reason. We wanted to let the lyrics shine. Personally we feel that the rock sphere is missing a crucial element: Yes, it has it’s oft-used trope of pondering about life, and your place in the world, but not enough bands look fly as fuck while doing it.”
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