Guest post from Hannah E Twitter.com/hlekren

“Dreaming with Our Eyes Open” is the track that defines Witt’s latest album and it’s in this song that you can find the heart of what makes his songs impossible to walk away from: he's saying something. Witt opens with a place we all know well - we’ve all been stuck and discouraged despite knowing there’s something within that can be epic. One of the lines that strikes a chord with me, particularly at this point in my own life where I’ve had a hard year, is “Had to take a step back and look at life in a different way.” I keep watching this video, listening to this song, trying to get out of my own head and flip up the perspective, and I think that’s exactly what we should be taking away here. We’re all stuck somehow, but we’re stuck here because of ourselves, not because of anyone else…"We are what we choose." We all have it within us to be where we want, to do what we want, to be great but “Nobody want to push their brain.”

While starts out a little reflective, with a melodic background that echoes through to the end, soon Witt lures you in to this mirror he’s holding up to himself, to you, to everyone, really, and suddenly you get hit with the urgency and the passion that I’ve come to associate with Witt – his words coming at you a little bit faster, your pulse picking up as you listen. This is the part where you sit up and pay attention, because it’s where he puts images to the struggle and makes it personal, while still reminding us that it isn’t about one person, we are not standing alone. He’s talking about his own struggles here – he’s been here, he’s gone through it, he’s rising up against the flow, and he’s not just doing it for himself. He's letting us into his mind and his story, even in the title of the song, in the title of the album - "Dreaming with OUR Eyes Open." He invites us all in, "See y'all are a piece of my legacy/Cause you believe we can be anything."

By the time we get into the last bits of this song, there’s fire behind Witt’s flow, and he’s issuing a challenge here, and that challenge comes with giving listeners the power to realize they can answer. The challenge? Be passionate. Open your eyes to the reality of the world. Be in the world as it is, but figure out how you can BE YOU in this place. This is where we want to be: “Can’t tell if I’m lucid or living the dream.” And if you take the time to listen to the words, to listen to Witt’s veritable poetry, you can find your mirror in this song that will show you how to find the power to stand up, change your perspective.

At this point, that blue and pink smoke has become solidly symbolic, invoking this dreaming-awake state that Witt is weaving into our minds, into our lives. I can see it swirling in my own mind, even after the video is done and the song is over. I’m trying to step back and figure out what I want my own life to look like, and I see that smoke floating above over-grown grass, sunlight filtering through, with Witt practically a spirit guide in the middle of it all, and it’s just a reminder that we can make this world beautiful. It’s up to us. And that beauty, that dream, is absolutely within our grasp, if we just open our eyes, listen, and stand strong.

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