Kelly Buchanan, a singer-songwriter-musician, is back with new songs after a 14-year hiatus while recuperating from a severe brain injury. Buchanan has put together the Lancaster, PA-based eclectic rock group Dimestore Dolls, who will release their first album, Wooly Mamas, on July 22. To celebrate the return to music from years-long hiatus after injury, Dimestore Dolls released a sad animated video for the new single “Down to Mechanics” that Mxdwn Music gets to premiere today.
“Down to Mechanics” was one of the first songs she wrote post-brain injury. “It was in 2012, about the time I was learning to sing again and also trying my fingers on both the guitar and the piano,” recalls Buchanan. “I recorded it (‘Down To Mechanics’) on an m-box with a bunch of vocal harmonies and a minimal acoustic guitar line. I was able to sing in head-voice first, and I didn’t have much control of my voice–so that demo was recorded as a wobbly mostly vocal piece.”
Adding to the song’s personal flair, its lyrical inspiration was drawn from Buchanan’s thoughts while being bed-ridden during her recovery. “When you are bed-ridden, you have plenty of time to rehash and psycho-analyze every past relationship, romantic or otherwise. There is lots of time to just think and think and think some more about victories and about regrets too. From past relationships to the existence of God to the reality of mortality, including the loss of my father, to what I would do with my life if I ever was lucky enough to go at it full throttle again. ‘Down to Mechanics’ was born of these thoughts.”
Dimestore Dolls’ “Down to Mechanics,” exclusively premiering with Mxdwn Music, gives viewers an animated look at the yearning for love, looking for that one true match and the inevitable heartbreak that comes with being in love with something that isn’t real or genuinely there. “Down to Mechanics” starts with a monster-looking robot with a Frankenstein’s Monster look going on about it and sees a similar-looking monster only to learn that all wasn’t as it seemed. Heartbreak, Anger and destruction are not far behind.
Check out “Down to Mechanic” right now below: