After posting this review, Matt from A Will Away got in touch with me to talk about some of the lyrical themes present in the EP, which has definitely affected my interpretation for the better. He took the time to explain to me the concept behind the EP and the process of writing it, which sparked a really great discussion about different perspectives. I asked for his permission to share the below explanation, which is part of his initial email discussing Cold Weather:
I decided to shoot you a quick email to thank you for writing a review of Cold Weather and also to thank you for giving me a new perspective on how people might view the record. Cold Weather is called Cold Weather because we consider the climate to be a lot of what makes us who we are here in New England.
The idea of being a product of one’s environment is one that we carry with us (see our 2012 Full-Length Product of Your Environment) but on Cold Weather I made the decision to write songs from the perspective of the people who raised us and the people we love. Stepping into another person’s shoes as the protagonist for each song was a very different lyrical style than I’ve ever taken on in the past and I was very curious to see how people would receive it. I’m extremely glad that the first four tracks of the record landed well with you.
The Masochist’s Daughter is a song written from the perspective of two people that have been very large parts of my own life who’s marriages were plagued by infidelity. People who never had the strength to properly stand up for themselves and continue to this day to be in unhappy and unhealthy marriages. I attempted to capture the internal fury of being a spouse who is tied in life and love to a person who they could no longer trust or respect. I attempted to stand up for people with words who were too weak to do so for themselves with their actions.
Knowing that I likely won’t change your opinion on the track regardless I at least wanted to make sure that you didn’t see me as a misogynist. The weight of that song is a pain I feel every time I sing it – an ache for some people that I love in the same way that the rest of the record has created an emotional bond between myself and the protagonists I chose to write about.
In a music scene plagued by white teenagers whining about their problems I can completely understand writing me off as one of them because of the language and tone used in that track. I tried to tackle a lot of my thoughts, philosophies and opinions in 5 songs and it seems that in some way I fell short of my goal with that song despite its popularity.
I’m really glad that Matt got in touch, and I really commend his ambition in writing a record from so many different perspectives. While the track is still not my favourite on the record, it has changed how I think about it, and it’s made me appreciate the other tracks even more. Check out Cold Weather for yourself at Giant MKT’s Bandcamp.