Reptile Room Explores our “New Normal” in Recent Single “Shadows”

Reptile Room’s newest single “Shadows” creates a world of its own, in which every sound is strong and powerful, but feels as though it could change at any time.

“The hook is one of my favorite parts in that it sounds so fragile vocally and yet is supercharged with energy. I perform the line very delicately but the music is so powerful that it creates an intimate feeling, like being surrounded by a subtle chaos and hearing the voice that speaks to you when you’re talking to yourself in your head.”

Sami Michelsen

The Atlanta-based electro-pop trio consists of Bill Zimmerman and siblings Sean and Sami Michelsen and brings other eerie, dark-pop acts to mind like Billie Eilish or Purity Ring. In “Shadows” the trio explores the all-too-familiar feeling of “the new normal.”

The song fell together in a jet lagged haze as vocalist Sami Michelsen wrote poetry when she couldn’t seem to sleep on a trip to Germany. The isolation that came from being the only person awake somewhere far from home was sewn into the fabric of the song, but quickly took on new meaning as the world adjusted to a post-Covid reality.

“It came together in movements,” Sami said. “The lyrics were last to join the collaboration, but once those were written all of the missing pieces fell into place.”

In 2021 they hope to return to live performances and sharing the work they finished in 2020 with their fans on a stage. Until then, expect more production and content from the band to carry them through the rest of an uncertain time.

“When people listen to “Shadows”, I hope they find a kind of validation in whatever feelings they’ve been living in lately, whether they’re handling these new world changes poorly or well. I experienced a lot of buried anger and loneliness when everything started to shift, and “Shadows” became my anthem for reaffirming that it’s okay to feel those things, but only so long as I got back to bettering myself and my life.”

Sami Michelsen

Listen to “Shadows” here.

Author Details

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Katie Knipper is a storyteller from central Florida who currently lives in her dream city — Nashville, Tennessee. In May 2020, she graduated from Belmont University in the midst of a global pandemic with a B.S. in Communication Studies and Journalism. Though she communicates mainly through print media, she also has experience in front of and behind the camera. Her internships and experience as Arts & Entertainment Editor at the Belmont Vision have sharpened her skills as an entertainment journalist while keeping her well-rounded and open to stories from different areas.