About:

We observe a couple known only by the nicknames they've given each other, Deer and Ugly, as they attempt to solve a hedge maze. At the center sits Manu, a voiceless ghost of their deceased friend, portrayed by the saxophone. They argue about moving in together - excuse, deflect, pry... a truth about Ugly comes to the surface and irrevocably changes their path forward. Overall, Wet Dirt explores themes of sexual repression, societal expectation, and shared memory through an intimate story of loss and love.

Wet Dirt weaves mental health’s relationship with sexual repression in multiple layers throughout. Deer and Ugly struggle with the societal constructs they aim to fulfill, the harm of which beats the characters down until Ugly loses his voice by the end and can only speak (as opposed to sing). Wet Dirt tells a coming out story through two perspectives: the one struggling with their sexual identity and the loved one who that sexuality impacts. Rather than valorizing or reasoning one character’s actions over the other, Wet Dirt zooms out and offers a critical lens on the overall corrosive nature of social-sexual constructs.

The composition unfolds as a cautionary tale where sexual repression denigrates the queer character who then in turn denigrates those around him - a snake eating its own tail. Collin and Andrea aimed to represent an unglorified shame often instilled in closited members of the queer community and how it hinders their ability to love and be loved. Wet Dirt treats sexual repression as a sickness imposed by outside forces, one that corrodes the would-be beautiful friendship between Deer, Ugly, and Manu to a broken one of grief and disconnect.