Sunset Capone – Hopeless Eyes | Not Alone

Hopeless Eyes from Sunset Capone is a genre-bending composition about what the loss of will and desires can feel like. The opening of the song is reminiscent of 2000’s punk pop trends, thanks to a dark theme and vocals that take you back to the era. As the first verse sets in, the song transforms into an RnB track with rap on looping beats. The bridge is especially interesting on the track as it further explores vision through eyes that have lost all hope.

Sunset Capone has had long ties with music. While it took him some time to come around chasing his passion, he’s here now. Further, he is exploring a unique sound that is post 2000’s and far away from regularly recycled pop. There is a touch of melancholia that floats through the beats, but on the top it feels like a pretty chill head-bopping vibe.

Sunset Capone’s music almost always has a dark undertone to it. Hopeless Eyes can easily disguise itself as a catchy hip-hop song, too. However, it has far more substance that that. It is an attempt from the artist to explain his own hopelessness with life after having seen many close ones give in to the same feeling. In that way, it is his message of solidarity in hopeless, depressed times.

Your life is more than this moment, talk through the feeling.
India National Suicide Helpline: 9152-987-821
USA Suicide Helpline: 800-273-8255
A quick google search will find you the nearest helpline, calling it is one way to claim your power if it feels like you don’t have any.

In Conversation with Sunset Capone

Trigger Warning: Suicide

You’ve got an interesting background; can you tell us how you started in music?

I originally didn’t want to get involved with music. I saw my brother and his friends selling out shows but nothing big happened after. When I saw that talent and hard work don’t always get you there I thought, “this sucks, I’m not falling for that trap.” So I entered college – which I may never pay off because I was too poor to actually afford it, and they gave me 100k worth of loans.

I worked a full-time job as an EMT at a retirement community, so I fooled around one day and played a grand piano there. The next thing I knew there were hundreds of people standing around clapping. I thought they were just clapping because I was an employee or something. However, after a few more times and some way over-the-top compliments, I thought maybe I had a talent. I changed degrees to music performance with a focus on piano and voice and that is when I learned about hate. People really didn’t like that I could allegedly play piano and sing well. I started a band and joined a few others which eventually led to me sharing stages with mainstream rock acts. I’ve continued music ever since.

What lead to your interest in so many varying genres of music, and what’s the thought behind the fusion?

Since I grew up on rap (Wu-Tang, DMX, Lloyd Banks, etc) and rock (Guns n Roses, Disturbed, Metallica, Blink 182, Linkin Park, Audioslave, etc) I never really saw a line between music. I knew that different people would gravitate towards different genres but for me, I didn’t care. If something hit me as a theme to my current memory being created, I let it rock.

The fusion my music creates is actually really painful, there is nowhere to market it. I mean rap playlists say it’s pop, pop playlists say it’s rock, rock playlists say it’s rap. When I create music, I imagine I’m speaking to someone, having a conversation, and aiming to generally break through the wall most people have up. I don’t pick specific rock or rap drums or pop synths to make a specific genre, I pick the sounds that satisfy the vibe I need to paint a picture in your head.

Tell us about Hopeless Eyes; where did the song come to you from?

Hopeless Eyes was sourced from experiences with suicide multiple times in my life. I lost my uncle, a best friend, and a coworker to suicide. These weren’t overdoses either, they were violent. And there was no warning sign on any of them. After being put through many horrible things in my life like being surrounded by 30 people with knives, my grandmother’s mind slipping, and a ton of other painful events, I began to feel the color of life fade.

I started to realize slightly what others may have been feeling. It felt like life was hopeless and I was looking at the world through hopeless eyes. This is how I feel many people look at the world and I aim to let them know they aren’t alone. If I can connect with even a few people and let them know there are others experiencing similar pain, maybe it’ll be enough to comfort them and prevent them from doing something terrible like others in my life have. It hurt pretty bad every time and scarred me permanently. I don’t want other people’s loved ones to feel that way if it can be prevented.

What is your intention behind your music? If someone were to discover you today, what would you hope for them to take away from Synset Capone’s music?

I want people to know they aren’t alone in their struggles. We all feel pain, only different types. No one can understand your pain, but we can at least sympathize. When I’m in a bad mood I oftentimes don’t want to hear anything happy or about love. So I aim to pick people up by making darker music, letting them know we can trash-talk life together. Do note though that even though I do multiple genres, even the happier-sounding songs have an edge hidden in there, haha.

What comes next after this release for you?

After this release is the remainder of the Sadly Happy EP tracks, a couple of collaborations, and a few summer shows to be scheduled. I hope I can make more waves and get to a position where I can actually reach masses of people that could use my music to negate the pain. Until I can make it past the algorithmic paywall, I will have to rely on the help of those I can reach and the assistance of awesome people like you.