Reconciliation is one of the heart’s most elusive desires. Alt-pop singer-songwriter C. SHIROCK (full name Chuck Shirock) bravely wades into such watery depths with his song “Lost to the Night.” With the accompanying video, premiering today on American Songwriter, the Nashville-based artist embodies every raw, blistered emotion.
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“I would have walked through the fire / Would have stayed through the night / I’d give it all up, just to look in your eyes,” he sings. His voice vibrates with the longing to know the unknown, lamenting someone’s profound absence in his life. He gathers his bellowing bottom register together with a cutting falsetto to deliver a dynamic, moving performance.
“Lost to the Night,” co-written with producer Thomas Doeve, was born out of a conversation about Doeve’s estranged brother. “I remember it was a cold winter day in Nashville, not unlike today. For Thomas, it was a letter of sorts to his brother hoping for understanding and reconciliation,” says Shirock.
Finding himself reflected back in the words, Shirock witnessed “the meaning evolving in a heartbreaking way,” he confesses, “and when I sing it now, I can only think of my dear friend Jon who was like a brother to me. Jon passed away unexpectedly this year.”
The visual – directed by Benjamin Skipworth, and starring Jesse James Locorriere and Garon Morris – stuns with electric splashes of burnt oranges and reds. There is a solemn care given to the cinematography that allows the lyrics to swell. “And I need you to know / I want you to feel / I came here to say the words / Can you say the words I need to hear,” sings Shirock.
The world is wrought with unimaginable loss, especially in these trying political times, and you can never be completely ready for it. “Loss can take so many shapes. At times, it’s hard to believe that you can keep hoping against all of the mysteries and unanswered questions in life… to stay hopeful in the face of tragedy, loss, and change. Maybe this is the great challenge in life – to stay hopeful, to stay gentle.”
In turn, Shirock extends a compassionate hand to the listener with the hope “Lost to the Night” serves as a cathartic conduit to something bigger. “If there is room for conversation, I hope you have it,” he says. “And if loss has cut you in the most profound way, I hope this brings some small sense of comfort in knowing that you are not alone.”
“Lost to the Night” samples C. SHIROCK’s forthcoming new album, Evidence of Things Unseen.
Watch “Lost to the Night” below.
Photo Credit: Mika Matin
