Cleveland alt-indie outfit Empty Kodiak zoom back into orbit with “we’re gonna be ok,” a defiant slice of heart-on-sleeve stargazing from their year-long Flighty project. The song was born on a fraught Thanksgiving, out of a broken-down car, a newborn in arms, parents stranded an hour and a half away, and the sudden sting of realizing some problems can’t be magically fixed. Out of that helpless clarity came one simple promise – we’re gonna be ok – and this track stretches that line into a whole universe about memory, responsibility, and choosing hope when rescue isn’t coming.
Sonically, the band leans into a cosmic, weightless glow at first. Shimmery guitar melodies chime like distant satellites over soft beats and sparkling cymbals, while the vocal comes in relaxed and meditative, almost like a late-night reassurance whispered down a phone line.
“I love you to the moon / but we don’t have gas to get there” hits like a perfect Empty Kodiak image. It’s dreamy and romantic, but grounded in the brutal math of real life, with no money, cheap motel rooms, busted AC in June, and still, somehow, the decision to stick together.
As the track unfolds, the emotional stakes deepen. When the chorus admits, “All our lives we’ve been waiting / waiting for something… and waiting too long,” it feels less like defeat and more like a line in the sand. The arrangement subtly thickens, moving from hazy nostalgia into something heavier and more resolute, mirroring that shift from passive hoping to active choosing. By the final refrain of “we’re gonna be ok,” bolstered by the dreamy yet anchored production from bandmates Chaz Stead and Brandon Thompson at the Heights Theater, the phrase stops sounding like wishful thinking and starts ringing out as a vow.
STAY IN TOUCH:
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | SPOTIFY | TIKTOK | WEBSITE | YOUTUBE
Review by: Naomi Joan