It’s been a few weeks since we’ve gotten a new song from Trey Anastasio, Quarantine Master, but he’s back at it again today with a new video for his latest original song, “If I Could See The World”, written from the perspective of the Phish guitarist’s cat. The new song and video are the first from Trey since he released “Evolve” on a month ago on April 21st.
“If I Could See The World” continues the quarantine-oriented lyrical theme of many of Trey’s quarantine releases, though this one looks at the situation from a slightly different perspective–that of his pet cat, Joey, to whom Trey introduced the world alongside one of his earlier lockdown releases, “Timeless”.
The video starts in familiar fashion, with Trey playing and singing along to a pre-recorded backing track on an acoustic guitar. The song is sung from a locked-down perspective, with lines like, “Sleepwalking through these times / My penance for a life of crimes” and “Now I see the world through open eyes / A world of beauty outside my mind.”
When the song moves into its guitar solo, however, the camera zooms in on Joey the cat by Trey’s feet and briefly switches to his point of view, allowing us to see his world through open eyes. As Trey plays, the camera’s perspective flips to the eyes of the feline as Joey takes viewers on a tour of the Anastasio residence—featuring an obligatory detour past his bowl for a quick snack, a pit stop at the litter box, and a visit with the Anastasios’ other pet cat in a bowl on the kitchen counter.
It’s unclear how exactly the “cat tour” segment of the video was captured, but whether Trey actually strapped a camera onto his cat or ran around his apartment hunched over trying to imitate him, the mental image of Anastasio capturing this footage is almost as entertaining as the video itself.
Watch the newly shared video for “If I Could See The World” by Trey Anastasio below:
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Trey Anastasio has released a steady stream of new videos from his Manhattan apartment since the lockdowns began including “Evolve”, “Till We Meet Again“, “The Silver Light“, “My World Is My Home“, “Are You There Colleen?”, “If Again”, “Lonely Trip”, “Shaking Someone’s Outstretched Hand”, “I Never Left Home”, “Lotus”, “When The Words Go Away”, “Timeless”, “I Never Needed You Like This Before”, “The Greater Good”, and “Lost In The Pack”. All of this is in addition to the new Phish album, Sigma Oasis, released on April 2nd.
As with virtually every band in the country, Phish recently confirmed that their 2020 summer tour will be pushed to 2021 as we continue to navigate the ongoing global health crisis. That fact, however, isn’t stopping the band from gathering its fans for regular shared experiences via their weekly Tuesday night Dinner and a Movie archival streaming series.
See below to read along with the lyrics to the latest quarantune from Trey Anastasio: