San Franciscan artist Grooblen shares their new single “How Are You?”, a pensive cautionary tale about the slippery slope towards allowing yourself to be taken advantage of.
Grooblen singer/songwriter Ellie Stokes explains, “I think I inadvertently put myself into situations where I become the point person to do a favor for someone else, and in particular (more rare, now!) instances that becomes my only role… At one point last year, a lot of these moments were adding up and overwhelming me, and I realized that with certain folks, when I set that boundary of not just being the person to hit up for something, I was disregarded entirely.”
Veering between shimmering laid back jazz pop and swirling psychedelia “How Are You?” provides a place for Grooblen to explore the sadness, confusion, and frustration of this situation. The song has been a pillar of the recent Grooblen live show and through those regular outings on stage was steadily workshopped into its final recorded form, captured in studio with no overdubs. Original Grooblen drummer (and brother of Ellie) William Stokes features on drums.
For the “How Are You?” video Stokes taps the striking animation talents of Ian Starling, who she shared a bill with on a solo jaunt to NYC back in 2022. The two quickly became friends, with Stokes noting “I still need to get a tattoo from him next time I’m out there! Ian is a very talented artist of many mediums and I thought his psychedelic style would be perfect for ‘How Are You?’.”
“How Are You?” is the second release from the upcoming FRIENDO EP (out April 10th).
