In reaction to the attempted January 6 coup d’état that took place in 2021, up-and-coming Northern California-based musician Mark Grossman joins forces with “Reawakened 2020” singer and songwriter Patrick Ames on the cryptic charmer “F.W.I.W.”
Grossman produces on the experimental Alt Blues single using a saccharine combination of rock instrumentation. The intricate artistry of Grossman is carefully layered in the same way a perfectionist would work a plan or a painter would add dimension to a portrait.
“I had recently banked some home-grown percussion samples – sandpaper on concrete, and a suspended crowbar dropped onto said concrete – and these fit right into the feel of the track,” Grossman said about the creation of the song.
“F.W.I.W.” kicks off with a lonesome, soulful piano tune that reverberates until the 11-second mark when a wave of trippy drum rolls rumble in. A wholesome bass guitar smoothly interjects as it’s followed by the disruption of an electrifying guitar. It’s a battle-cry introduction to a serious subject that has engulfed headlines as of late.
The hearings of the January 6 insurrection has incurred a plethora of questions about the severity of the incident and the consequential impact on democracy as we know it. While the narrative centers around the 45th president’s alleged accountability for inciting a large mob to overtake the Capitol and the validity of the 2020 presidential elections, Grossman and Ames removes the derivatives to pinpoint the very unsettling reality of what took place leading up to and on that fateful day.
In the vein of Buffalo Springfield’s timeless “For What’s It Worth,” in which “F.W.I.W.” borrows its acronym, Ames contributes his familiarly impassioned vocals to a line taken directly from the hit where he sings, “There’s a man with a gun over there,” before cautioning to “beware.” At one point, Ames inserts a chilling wail that is looped for a melodramatic effect.
For added measure, Grossman uses actual audio from the January 6 incident to conclude “F.W.I.W.” and the grisly auditory eschews an eerily barrage of yelling, glass breaking, gunshots, and authorities ordering a crowd through a megaphone. The detail does well to create a sense of darkness that Grossman envisioned in the making of the song.
“The imagery came first – the dark signs, hidden threats to safety and against nature,” Grossman said. “I don’t always like the way my singing fits with my compositions, so I enticed Patrick to do lead vocals, and this lent the necessary darkness and grittiness!”
Clearly, Grossman is on the mission to release meaningful songs that serve the immense task of provoking thought using profound storytelling via both the lyrics and instrumentation. With “F.W.I.W.” being Grossman’s first worldwide release and a cache of over 40 compositions in queue, the multi-hypen talent is well on his way to fulfilling the arduous mission.
“F.W.I.W.” is available now on Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube.
