What’s that old stereotype about the acting hubs of L.A. and New York? Oh right. Every server you meet is actually an actor who’s just waiting tables ’til they score that sweet screen time. Which is fairly different from music hubs like Austin, where success is less about streaming numbers and more about overcoming artist multiplicity to make yourself stick out amongst the crowd. Yeah, the dissonance between the “Live Music Capital of the World” and status as one of the most expensive places to live has pretty much guaranteed that if you’re not in a corporate role…there’s a fifty/fifty chance you’re also a musician in your free time. And if you can find a profession that matches your passion, more power to you.

Take people like JC Barrett. If you’ve attended any of the events from the recently-wrapped 2024 spring season of KUTX’s Rock the Park live series, you’ve heard Barrett and his fellow Werd Company engineers making our featured artists sound mighty fine out at Mueller. But outside The Werd Company (which, full disclosure DOES serve a sponsorship role for Song of the Day), Barrett applies that technical prowess and tremendous passion to his Austin project Painterly. Serving as chief producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Barrett’s already steered this indie pop three-piece through an enthusiastic introduction, culminating in Painterly’s debut EP from last April, What’s the Year?

Last Friday Painterly unfurled their latest single and music video “Ok/Alright”. As the stylized title implies, it’s somewhat of a two-parter with a bit of a left turn in its final minute. But don’t get thrown off by the “blah” aspect of the words themselves in the title. Because “Ok/Alright” is actually an awfully optimistic piece of indie pop, one that’s an actually an endearing testament to the comforting power of love and connection in the face of day-by-day medicated malaise.

So if the Monday blues have got you down, cheer up. It’ll be Ok. Alright?

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