video: "Dim Blue Light" - Lobby Boy

words: indigo baloch

Lobby Boy’s “Dim Blue Light” will have you melting as soon as you press play. All your muscles relax and you can’t help but sway along to the smooth, rolling beat. You can hear the title in it—it’s the sound of laying on your bedroom floor with a soft blue light pulsing above you. The bass is low and slick, and singer Chez Goodspeed’s tender, smoky vocals will send goosebumps up your arms. 

It’s quite a change of pace from their last single—“TWTA.” “TWTA” was an energetic bop with Goodspeed pushing her vocals into a bellowing scream at times. But “Dim Blue Light” is a gentler song, full with the overwhelming crush of emotions. 

Goodspeed croons haunting lines like, “My knees are scraped up / I swear I’m tripping on the air here / Or it’s something in black coffee that we share / Maybe I’m just losing my edge / So I’ll wait for you / And they’ll talk me off the ledge.” 

Lyrically, the song is chilling and forlorn, but the video evokes a sort of summer nostalgia—the kind we cling to as the nights get a bit colder. It’s adventurous and familiar. You feel invited, welcome. It’s a beckoning hand into their private world; It’s a lover tugging you into the wild cacophony of a basement show; it’s running through your childhood neighborhood at night with your friends, tearing through your neighbor’s yards in the sleepily silent dark; it’s a house party amongst those closest to you, pure mayhem and bliss. There’s something chaotic about it all, but also a desire to belong there. You can feel the love and joy radiating out in azure and ultramarine. 

There’s also a sadness to it—a bit of melancholy—but it’s balanced out by the grinning faces and excited squeals of delight they spread throughout. And besides, nostalgia is known for being bittersweet. 

The video is a scrapbook, a yearbook, a diary, a memory. It’s a confession and a pat on the back; a hand holding yours when you have tears in your eyes. It’s a song to keep on repeat while you lay there at 2 a.m. and feel it all. It’s a slow dance and it’s a goodbye—with just a little nod farewell of Goodspeed’s growl at the end. Even the hook encourages parting, echoing: “I don’t have a reason to stay.”

It’s a triumph that leaves you wanting more—the same way “TWTA” did. Eager, for me, is an understatement when it comes to Lobby Boy. I’m desperate to hear more. In the meantime, I’ll have “TWTA” and “Dim Blue Light” on repeat. And once you have a listen, I’m sure you’ll understand, and join me there.