Tall Friend Debuts “Small Space,” A Lo-Fi Song About Survival

This summer, Philadelphia indie-pop trio Tall Friend will put out their first album. Called Safely Nobody's, the record finds primary songwriter Charlie Pfaff working through childhood trauma with vulnerability, curiosity, and strength. "This album is a documentation of me packing up and unboxing many, many years of hurt," they wrote on Bandcamp.

Today, The FADER is debuting a video for "Small Space," an unassuming lo-fi earworm full of too-real misfit poetry like I can run fast, but not fast enough and my cells are dark but they are a part of me. It'll resonate with anyone who's ever felt unsteady on their own two feet, and it nicely reflects the album's underlying narrative of survival amidst instability.

"'Small Space' is a song about growing up in an environment that rejects and suppresses you, then coming out on the other side alive and new," Pfaff told The FADER in an email. "Apoptosis is the death and rebirth of cells, which allows the body to heal, while photosynthesis lets an organism absorb light and grow. I just wanted to document how wild it is that my physical self keeps surviving and wanting to, even if my brain gives up. My body carries me into unknown terrain, and I continue to live, even if I'm not sure why/how."

Thumbnail image by Lora Mathis