Irish-born piglet returns with a tug on the heartstrings as this latest track dances around beautifully sad lyrics and an outpour of personal, honest, experiences.
Off the back of last year’s ‘seven songs’ EP, Charlie Loane (piglet) offers another deeply intimate exploration of the trans experience and creates a conversation about prejudice in today’s climate. The single delves into an exchange between Loane and a pharmacist who was dealing with his testosterone prescription, and how their attitude plummeted after realising he was trans. The recount of this story is accompanied by a melodic acoustic guitar backing and brings to life the gut-wrenching feeling of judgement.
The music video further evokes this idea of being on a never-ending journey, as we see Loane on a bike that’s been fixed into place. Inspiringly, the bike’s settings are changed as the tune goes on and becomes more emotive, throwing buckets of water onto his head, hosing him down like a torrential burst of weather, and even being elevated to set the scene of an uphill journey. We’re looking at a glimpse of what it’s like to be in the trans community.
“I wrote this song at the final hurdle of receiving a prescription for gender-affirming hormones. I’d been through the bulk of the ridiculous assault course of NHS assessments, a process which took at least 3 years (which sounds like it was a long time, but by today’s standards would be considered a mad stroke of luck). Some highlights of this absurd process include obtaining a diagnosis of Gender Dysphoria (being trans is not an illness lol , but here we are) and being asked extremely invasive and irrelevant questions along with a hundred other things that I have no interest in revisiting.”
‘building site outside’ is a remarkable eye-opener to society, but above all captures the achievement in being on this journey of making oneself happy and comfortable. The song encapsulates the craving for a warm hug and is perfect for those Sunday night blues or miserable Monday mornings.
We catch up with Piglet in Issue Forty of So Young. Buy your copy here.
Photo by Holly Whitaker
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