Singled Out: ktwheels' Mechanical Being

Chicago-based indie rocker ktwheels just released her new single "Mechanical Being," and to celebrate asked her to tell us about the track written during ongoing battle with tinnitus. Here is the story:

"Mechanical Being" came about in pretty much one day. For a few months prior, I had been dealing with moderate tinnitus, a constant ringing in my ear. I remember feeling so much anxiety and stress about it, which ultimately made my situation worse. I would spend nights researching causes, symptoms, cures, etc., but my spiraling out on the internet only made the ringing intensify. I remember sitting in my room one day, completely overwhelmed by how loud this ringing became, and within a few hours, I had the song complete. The guitar riff and melody came first, with the lyrics soon after.

Usually, lyrics are such a struggle for me, but because I was so in tune with how annoyed and anxious my tinnitus was making me, these lyrics came naturally. "Am I insane?" was one of the first lines improvised that set the tone for the song. By trusting myself fully and just enjoying my own company, I didn't overthink anything in this song, and that allowed the song to flow as it wanted to. There wasn't much thought into song structure, but I knew I wanted the song to be a little jarring at times to emphasize fluctuating between feeling totally fine to extremely overwhelmed in a matter of minutes. "Mechanical Being" is the first time I've had the writing process work this quickly and seamlessly for me, and it's the song I'm most proud of because of that.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more here

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