Clay Joule is back with an important song that breaks all boundaries of music with his new single- Realm. This time he sings to bring into the limelight a movement known as the White Paper Movement that took place during Covid. This was to exercise the Civilian right to freedom of speech under an oppressive regime. Realm started off as a poem and then took shape into a song. Joule has done a brilliant job at putting the movement at the forefront of the track.

Realm has a striking beginning with the bagpipes and Joule’s voice enters creating a solemn mood. The song has such a mixture of textures with Joule’s bass voice, the backpipe and the marching drums. At first glance the song may seem to have an absurdist movement’s touch in the nature of the song. But as we do our research on the white paper movement, the song suddenly makes a lot more sense. The layering of the instruments compliments Joule’s voice beautifully. “Welcome to our kingdom, I want you to be our king” these lyrics fit the cause so well. A country puts its citizens in shackles if it takes away their freedom of speech. 

Samuel Beckett premiered “Waiting for Godot” in 1948 which if you know your plays, has a huge following of its own. Realm can be played in any of the scenes and it would fit like a pea in a pod. Since the 1900’s the play has taken many forms and even got produced as a film. The plot revolves around two characters who are waiting for a man named Godot but neither of them know that they are waiting for the same man. The story deals with important themes and freedom of speech is happens to be one of them. It is important to note that Absurdist Theatre was a Theatre movement that was a reaction to WW2. 

Clay Joule is doing some heavy lifting with his music. He brings forth important issues in a lyrical ballad format and this deserves to be recognised by a larger audience.