Northern UK alt-rock band The Hold Fast, the new project of award-winning musician Matt Hooper, recently released their new single “Let’s Burn It Down (And Start Again)”. It’s the second single from their upcoming EP Löstalgia Vol. 1, set to release next month.
As Hooper describes, this track confronts the rush of emotions that comes with “watching a community you love fall apart, fighting for your mental health, refusing to give up on your friends, your friends refusing to give up on you, and trying to find the courage to start again.”
The song starts off with some attention-grabbing drums and futuristic synths. Bold and clipped vocals with a subtle echo effect barge right in describing the scene of a fight and the need to escape from it.
The chorus incorporates some hopeful guitar as the lyrics express an emptiness and a desperate desire to “burn it down and start again”. While the lyrics might be a bit dark at first, the instrumentals and the idea of starting again give the song a more positive turn.
The second verse continues this trajectory as he sings about seeing a light in the distance. We head into a bit of a muffled and suspenseful instrumental and we move into a bridge that builds as he repeats “let’s burn it down and start again”.
After some more insightful lyrics, finally we explode into the chorus at full energy. The repetition of these lyrics as the music continues to build emphasizes the fire and passion he feels. The chorus then moves into the background as lyrics from the first verse come to the forefront. The blending of these lyrics and melodies carries us to the end of the song even as the instrumentals start to slowly fade.
The controlled chaos of the vocal delivery and the blending of different elements of the song drive the message home. In the repetition of certain lyrics, we feel the pain Hooper was in and in the musical elements, we feel the fire and understand his desire to leave it all behind and completely start over.
If you like this track, keep an eye out for their debut EP Löstalgia Vol. 1, out June 2024.
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