Brooklyn-based singer, songwriter, and guitarist Laura Valk – who goes by the moniker – Skout is gearing up to release a collection of new songs – ‘Patterns‘. The five song EP, like its lead single, Moves, touches upon themes of mental health and the motivation to keep pushing forward even in times of doubt.
I, personally, felt very much attached to the song and video for “Move”. The songs’ theme and lyrical content really seemed to resonate with me. I also loved that Skout is willing to take chances and really write what’s on the top of mind.
I had the chance to catch up with Skout and I asked about this mental health theme going on in the songs and the philosophy behind this record. Skout tells me, “The whole EP is kind of like.. It’s called Patterns because it’s about patterns of thought and cycles we get into. Throughout the EP you go through the beginning of that cycle to the end. ‘Move’ is sort of the beginning of that cycle. This intense self doubt and inability to see yourself the way that others see you and everything that is happening in your head. You go through this cycle on the EP and at the end you’re at this place where, yeah this self doubt exists but we kind of have no choice but to move on anyway and celebrate ourselves for what we are.”
Skout continues, “It definitely leans into a more introspective, mental health philosophy but it was a really fun experiment to have and go through that cycle, in song.”
The idea of a concept EP that touches on real world, everyone has their own issues theme is extremely fascinating to me. Skout says, “I guess I’ve written about mental health before but I never named it as such and all it is really, is introspection. Putting thoughts that you ruminate on in your head into song and being more forthcoming on where their actually coming from and what the root of those thoughts are.”
It’s impressive and thought provoking all at the same time.
We also touched on the production aspects of the EP as well as the video. Skout breaks down the video from conceptualization to execution and it’s a pretty wild time.
You can hear my entire conversation with Skout by clicking on the link to your favorite place to listen to podcasts.
-Tommy Marz
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