Stylish brass and a soaring vocal presence elevates “Godspeed and Guns”, the newest single from Christinia Rubino. Out January 6th, the brass during the central hook has a mariachi flair, with the snake-slithering effect at the two-minute mark aiding the narrative lyrical content well. There’s certainly a south-setting feel to this, with the brass providing an uptick in intensity alongside the increasing vocals each time the chorus is re-introduced. It’s a track with ample passion, per usual for this talented Brooklyn-based act, which in addition to Rubino is comprised of Johnny Phillips on Spanish guitars, Jerry Farley handling the rhythm section and Eli Maurer taking hold of the trumpets.
Lyrically, the track explores the concept of Jung’s “Shadow self. Rubino explains: “Shadow, in Jungian terms, represents the dark, instinctive and irrational side of the personality. It’s projections remain hidden from our conscious mind – so no matter how we try and escape becoming what we hate, the fact remains that in some sense, we already are just that, becoming more fully the shadow self by trying to escape it. You cannot drive out darkness with darkness – and when you spend your life refusing to see, you lose the ability to see even if you wanted to, which was the ultimate fate of the old man in the song shadow, and the girl in the ‘Godspeed and Guns’ video.”
