Philly native and Gladie frontperson Augusta Koch bears her soul in every song she writes, displaying the bravery to share her innermost thoughts in spite of hesitation. To better express sentiments about grief and fear on which she had been ruminating, Koch and bandmate Matt Schimelfenig employed the help of Sean Bonnette of AJJ, resulting in Gladie’s latest single, “Chaos Reigns.”
Following their 2022 album Don’t Know What You’re in Until You’re Out, Gladie has supported AJJ on tour multiple times, through which the two bands have developed and maintained a close friendship – which, as it would with any group of music-makers, has now blossomed into close collaboration. Detailing the origin story of the single on the band’s site (which also functions as somewhat of a blog depicting the band’s creations, lyrics, and whereabouts), Koch writes, “There was a very particular picture I wanted to paint about how fear and grief can make your world splinter and crumble out of nowhere and there’s really nothing we can do to stop it.”
After toiling with the concept for months, and challenged to finish the lyrics, Koch reached out to Bonnette about the track while on the road. Fortunately (and unsurprisingly), Bonnette took the challenge head-on, assisting her in completing the lyrics via a series of Facetime calls. Through its creation, Koch reaffirms the overall theme of the song. In her words, “life can come at you fast in both horrible and beautiful ways and ultimately chaos does reign, but you can always ask for help.”
That’s not all, folks – there’s a music video for “Chaos Reigns,” too. In the video, Koch and Schimelfenig, along with fellow Gladie players Allegra Anka and Miles Ziskind, discover a magic eight-ball that (and I can’t for the life of me figure out how they did this) contains lyrics to the song. As the band shakes and re-shakes the ball seeking guidance, it’s evident that the right answers to questions about the future will always be unclear, as the future is undecided. Fear will always “nip at our heels,” so to speak, but it is what we do with that fear that shapes our lives. It’s a beautiful concept, brilliantly written and recorded with an indie-rock-meets-midwest-emo flair, and expertly translated into video.
You can check out the video for “Chaos Reigns” below right before grabbing tickets to Gladie’s next supporting gig with iconic songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Rosenstock, which begins today and stops by The Fillmore on September 10th.