Languid and hypnotic, Tom Visser’s newest track, Health Scare, is a peaceful but sharp realization of an individual’s vivacity and independence that is often hard to recognize.

Despite a title that some might find stressful, Health Scare by Tom Visser is quite the opposite – optimistic and stark in its clarity. Cleverly, birds chirp, opening the track like the dawning of a new day – a metaphor for the epiphany detailed throughout – before the crisp, melancholic piano joins in. Although mellow and even-tempered, Visser consistently changes up the instrumentation and styles as the track progresses, keeping listeners engaged. Unexpected, yet perfectly timed, drum rolls, serenely textured vocals, and moments of psychedelic guitar as the song swells and grows are just a few of the ways that Health Scare holds your attention. Alongside the song, Visser introduced a mesmerizing music video filled with strange illustrations by James Moore that border on the absurd.

Despite the timing of the release, Health Scare is not a COVID-19 inspired track. Visser explained:

It’s a jumble of memories, like most of my songs. I think I was cycling with my Dad, and in that moment I felt like I was stronger than him, like a generational baton was being passed. I felt, for a brief, fleeting moment, free from the weight of any expectation or past experience, and that I had the opportunity to reassemble those pieces into a different shape.

The health scare I’m doing my best to ignore, is the existential kind; a fear of what’s locked deep in my DNA. And that in that moment, perched precariously atop a bicycle, I somehow had autonomy over my future. It was not a lasting epiphany…