Inclusion is not only a social movement, but it is vital to an individual’s self-worth. To be seen is to be valued. However, not all of us feel that we have a place at the world’s table. Instead of seeking validation from others, they might retreat to their own corners and block out the world. Australian singer-songwriter John Leslie Hulcombe’s brand of transcendental, psychedelic folk explores the philosophical musings of someone who is in search of their own “sanctuary” from all the world may throw at them.
“Sanctuary” is a moving, introspective piece that delivers a great deal of emotional weight which is in concert with an easy going, psychedelic-ish melody. Hulcombe’s melodies cozy up to becoming psychedelic without the need for the sharp intensity of warped chords. It is more along the lines of a sudden, cool breeze on a sultry, summer evening. It is not what you were expecting, but it is a more than welcoming shift in the air.
On this track, Hulcombe aims to transcend his current station and take up a new residence in a place where he can be free. However, in order to get there, he first has to recall where he’s been. Hulcombe asserts that he “fell into trouble the day I was born.” Further on in time, he’s “seen enough” that “this world ain’t right for me.” Stuck in this lonely place, Hulcombe sets out to find his “sanctuary.”
Hulcombe’s goal is to find “a place to hide when the world drags me down and burns from inside.” Whether that is “high in the mountains” or on an “island lost at sea,” it has to be “far from the world that frightens and scars my memory.” In the end, escapism in its most natural form is the goal. It is not a retreat out of cowardice, it’s a withdrawal out of self-preservation.
As Hulcombe elegantly states, “serenity now, no need to fight, just cover me in warm sunlight.” Hopefully, we all get the chance to bask in the afterglow of a peaceful life. On “Sanctuary,” Hulcombe provides peeks of sunshine amidst the murkiness of a world that wants to shroud you in misery.
Written by Travis Boyer
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