UTG TRACK-BY-TRACK: Something You Whisper – ‘From The Other Side’

March 26th, 2014

Matthew Leimkuehler

Canadian post-hardcore act Something You Whisper show a sensational blend of maturity and definition on the newly-released EP, From The Other Side. Tracks range from the brutally passionate single, “Who I’ve Become,” to the hard-hitting and larger than life closer, “Anti-Conscience.”

Here at Under The Gun, we have teamed up with the band to bring you an exclusive track-by-track breakdown of the entire EP, which can be streamed today through our friends at AbsolutePunk.net. From The Other Side, arranged by Brent Allen and Devin Oliver of I See Stars and produced by Doug Meadows at AllSpark Studios, is a record ready to launch Something You Whisper into scene super-stardom. Click the “Read More” button to check out the track-by-track and leave your thoughts in the comments below.

1. Who I’ve Become
The track title sums this song up: growing up in a religious surrounding, in private schooling, at home, I felt as if I was always being watched and I could never be myself when it felt like someone was watching me to make sure I was doing everything correctly. “I saw you off in the corner of the sky, staring at me in this hurricane of noise.” It’s like God is watching my every move in my chaos of a life. I don’t have any other first-hand experience being someone else…this is my first life; but I think I’ve had some bad luck in my past. And the song is from that standpoint; talking about how I’ve done everything wrong that there is to do. It’s admitting my mistakes and hoping I can understand myself. Something cool about this track is that the introduction was recorded in Wes’ bedroom using GarageBand and a webcam microphone.

2. Speak To Me
This track starts out with a lyric talking about how I know I need to change. I explain that I didn’t like who I was and I notice everyone I form connections with feels the same way about themselves. There is no way this can be right. I find it weird that everything ‘right’ or ‘good’ in life is hard to reach and maintain, when everything ‘wrong’ and ‘bad’ is so easy. We can all give up so easily and looking at status updates on social media and talking to people who I form relationships with, it becomes clear that everyone seems to just accept the fact that their life is falling apart. I found that, with the right attention from the right people in my life, I can find the peace to build myself up again from where I lost control. In my past, I messed up a lot of relationships, both romantic and friendships, and I saw how easy it was to lose control. I wish I could be perfect, like everyone else wants. In the end of the song, it shows the relapse to where I lose control again. I can’t truly change for myself or anyone around me.

3. Interlude
This interlude ties together some lyrics from other songs on the EP. This wasn’t supposed to be a concept piece of any kind, but it happened simply from writing the songs at a time in my life where there was a lot to write about. I bring back key words from other songs and I mention leaving town…all things I wanted to highlight. This song was written in five minutes between Kyle and I. He played two or three chords during a rehearsal break, so I turned my webcam on and mumbled a melody while he played the chord progression. I listened back to the recording, wrote lyrics that fit the pockets, and the song was done. It’s nice to give an EP time to breathe. I liked how we wrote this song; there is something about writing in the moment that gives you this honesty and real feeling that sometimes can’t happen in [other] songs.

4. Dead in Fiction
We wanted a song that started with more aggression than any other song we’ve made. Sometimes music is about breaking shit and letting out your anger. This album is about feeling all types of emotions and this song let off some steam for me. I wrote this song in a weird way; not directly about something, but just whatever came to my head every time I felt a certain feeling of anger. Every time I got worked up or pissed off, I’d make myself write some lines, many of which were just a bunch of ‘fuck yous’ and ‘you bitches’ and I want to make this clear: I hate those kind of lyrics. Sure, sometimes it’s fun to yell ‘fuck you!’ but anyone can write that song. Once I took the time to organize and tweak lines, I filtered out a pretty meaningful song that I connected with, and was interested in, due to the fact that it was made from so many types of anger. I couldn’t have written this song in one session of negative emotion. This was honest thought from several long walks, car rides, bus rides, and bed sits, which makes this song one of my favorites. One of the coolest things that I learned about myself from this song is that even when I am in the lowest of my lows I can still write about that ‘bright white, buried at the very bottom,’ which is that little bit of hope, deep inside.

5. Anti-Conscience
This song is one of the most simple songs off the EP, lyrically. I completely block someone out of my life, changing everything about my life that reminds me of that person: my belongings, my location, and my mindset. This song, like most of our songs, is about someone from my past. We left on very bad terms and for about 10 months after I disappeared from her life completely with no contact. I made a lot of bad choices and lived in a way I thought I never would. I have always tried to focus on doing what I believe is right, but in this song I bring my anti-conscience (my primal instinct) to my conscience and feel wild and out of control, like I was feeling for so long. This isn’t just a single song about this subject, but I plan on bringing these feelings back quite often throughout other songs. The song is about speaking your mind, without all the ‘fuck you’ and name calling…just good ole’ anger. We re-wrote a lot of our lyrics over the last year — I remember having a lot more angsty lyrics, that were full of swearing, and violence — but I realized this part of my life was worth more than cheap breakdowns. I spent awhile writing lyrics that were what I was actually feeling two years after what I was writing about. My favorite lines from this song are, “I filled our picture frames with other faces.” and “back to the coast, I’m leaving all my things so nobody knows.” That last line was written on the tour bus on a four-month tour we did in 2012. We made it to the east coast, Newfoundland, and I fell in love with the feeling I had of being away from home and my problems. The coast is where I belong. I feel too surrounded in Ontario, by everyone and everything. After several re-writes and a bit of help from I See Stars, I’m happy with what we did with the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oikQt4q6vzk

You can purchase From The Other Side here.