New York City-based Track Seven Band has a lot going for itself—which I detailed last year when I reviewed their debut project, The Try And The Fail. Just this past week they released a brand new visual from the EP, “The Message,” and it’s made me fall in love with this project all over again.
An upfront pleasant surprise was that the video—which is dedicated to their producer Rob Dinero who passed away earlier this year—was directed by Brian Gregory from my hometown, Toronto. His name has floated around for some time now. He’s worked with the likes of “Diamond Girl” singer Ryan Leslie and has since shot the very scenic visual for Toronto artist Pyrex’s buzz-worthy single “Make It.” He brought the song to life.
“Inside the booth, I’m accountable for what I say you.” That line describes the underlying vibe of the track. Upon my original run with the EP, I always felt this track was the unintentional palate cleanser; its elongated purpose was to be a motivational ‘overcome shit’ anthem, but it works to reinforce the fact that Cost—the slightly Jigga cadenced Emcee—was speaking from a place of authenticity. The record on the whole really does see him pouring out a lot of shit, from a loss to thoughts of suicide, so this song was a way of saying that it’s all “real talk.”
“Whether you like me or not I’m here to enlighten/but I been lost my head like Tyson fighting.” — Cost
Much like the song, and the album—as I discussed before—the video’s styling and the pace is upbeat and fun. I felt the band’s greatest strength on the EP was dropping all their realness in an accessible way; if you didn’t understand English, or just weren’t paying deep attention to the lyricism it comes across as perfect summer soundtracks for your daily movements through the city.
365 days later, and this EP still bangs. “The Message” was my favorite song at the time, and now—seeing it come to life in a visual treatment—I have it in the rotation all over again.
Check it out, below. And if you slept on the EP last summer, wake up!
