Placement Is Here To Tell You How To Stop Sleepwalking Through Life

The modern age - with its proliferation of fast-paced technologies, collapse of boundaries, and staggering expectations - can be exhausting. It can be easy, in such a pivotal, confusing era, to feel overwhelmed by inertia. To feel heavy, incapable, and to not know what exactly to do about it.

This is a sentiment that Adelaide-based post-punk outfit Placement seemed to have latched onto and creatively mined for good. Their latest single - out on all streaming platforms today - is called Intertia/Heavy Lids, and is a sonically pulsing, emotionally resonant track that collates these cyclical feelings of motivation, and the lack thereof.

“This song speaks of desire, motivation and slipping away into the sleeping reality of inertia. We may begin full of emotion, full of passion and vigour, but somewhere along the way, are we just doing what we’re doing because it’s what we have been doing? Does it still fill us, fulfil us?” says vocalist Malia. “The power of habit and ritual is strong, the inertia of daily life can propel us through a lot, past a lot. If we keep running towards the same things again and again, we should know what’s coming.”

It has already been an electrifying couple of years for Placement - having played thrilling performances across the country at major events such as Meadow Festival in Victoria and Mountain Goat Valley Crawl in Queensland, as well as lighting up audiences alongside the likes of Superchunk and DZ Deathrays. And now, with the announcement of the impending release of their debut album this year, there is sure to be more excitement ahead.

On the topic of their latest track, Malia continues, “Sometimes we are not really awake but sleepwalking through ritual, continuing the same comfortable routine, particularly if it is something that was once desirable to us,” Malia continues. “Maybe there’s a reason we sleepwalk. Maybe it is just our inertia, eyes glued shut with sleep while we stumble through the things we know.”

Given that this fascinating group of musicians appear to be experts on the subject, they have gifted us with their top five tips for learning how to break free from sleepwalking through life.

Here they are:

• Seek out a new artist, band, filmmaker or other creative to become obsessed with! When an artist’s style resonates with you, deep-diving into their world or creative lens rips you from the monotony of your established norms, and inspires a fresh perspective!

• Reconnecting with nature grounds us and promotes mindfulness. You slow down and focus on the now, disengaging the autopilot mode! Extra tip: jump into the ocean at the crack of dawn! It’s also just really fun watching plants grow, they change even when you’re not there.

• Drink 12-38 coffees every day, no exceptions bah. 

• Write a song about it and sing it in your head all the time.  Or, better yet, just stream on repeat a pre-existing song about it (e.g. this one!) so you are constantly reminded that if you sleepwalk you had it coming.

• Tie yourself to your bed, and maybe rig a complicated alarm system to your toe (think Mr Bean) so when you try to sleepwalk you wake yourself up… oh wait sleepwalking through life, not sleepwalking…. So, the same applies but adapt the alarm system to suit. Maybe you could commit to a bunch of things that require you to spend lots of time organising or making stuff that you haven’t even started yet. eg. commit to a solo exhibition in a week's time and you haven’t worked out what it’s about or made any work, or maybe even learnt how to paint/draw/sculpt. Propel yourself out of inertia with panic!

Intertia/Heavy Lids is out on all streaming platforms now.