Stu described Sketches of Brunswick East as “our attempt to find beauty within a place that we spend so much time” and perhaps no other song embodies this concept of finding peace as “You Can Be Your Silhouette.” A bossa nova song with twisting guitars, the lyrics describe the process of becoming the person you want to be (as said by Stu on 2024-08-17), as well as finding strength and comfort within the here and now. Life may be rough at times, you may be anxious over the future, but you’re capable of making your way through it. The song is meditative, relaxing, and introspective.
A demo of the song was released on Demos Vol. 6: Music To Burn Money To. The song seems to be recorded in a room with Stu singing a draft of early lyrics that are hard to make out over the band, though Stu seems to keep singing “you can be my only mind” instead of the title. The song appears structurally close to the final version but features a different outro. On Sketches of Brunswick East, the song was performed by Alex Brettin, (bass/organ), Ambrose (harmonica), Cavs (drum kit 1/drum kit 2), Joey (bongos/guiro) and Stu (“wah wah guitar”/vocals/acoustic guitar). The song would be released on August 18th, 2017.
“You Can Be Your Silhouette” made its live debut on 2024-05-31 at the Brighton Dome during the band’s acoustic show. An electric version would debut during the band’s marathon set on 2024-08-17. The song was only played a few times that year, typically in the electric variation (the exceptions being the aforementioned acoustic performance and a semi-acoustic rendition on 2024-09-09. Live versions feature improvisation which extends the three minute song to eight minutes in length at times.