Sometimes, life can really get the best of you. Whether you’re considering fate or divine power, if you think enough about the “meaning of life,” you’ll often come to the conclusion that, in the end, nothing really matters. With their latest effort Here Again, which also happens to be their first full-length effort, Connecticut punks A Will Away are ready to try to tackle these heavy metaphysical issues, and makes the most of anything and everything that comes with their implications.
Together with the band’s EP Bliss: Finding Comfort In The Pointlessness of Life, Here Again tells the story of “our own life story of coming to grips with, and understanding that life and all of its pursuits and all of its complications and all of its inflictions are meaningless in the scheme of things,” frontman Matt Carlson told me over the phone. However, where Bliss had a somewhat negative sub-title with “Finding Comfort In The Pointlessness of Life,” Here Again takes a more positive approach for its subtitle, “An Exploration Into The Cyclical Nature Of Life,” which does not appear on the album’s cover art, making it even more subtle.
Where Bliss was simply about finding comfort in this nihilistic state, Here Again tries to actively make the most of it understanding by bringing these beliefs into the light, asking you to be present and focused, and using this nihilistic headspace as a source for positivity, rather than negativity.
“I feel like I’m constantly reducing everything that happens in my life to a snippet or a lyric,” Carlson said. “I’m constantly thinking about the most eloquent and concise way to say, or re-explain, everything. And I think that’s the reason we write songs. We want to share ideas with people. And music is a really excellent medium to do that.”
Above, we are exclusively premiering “Into The Light,” the standout penultimate track from Here Again. It’s a track about compromise and understanding that one’s circumstances “tend to repeat themselves,” Carlson said. “You continue your cycle: you visit the same places, you engage with the same people. Your habits and your mannerisms are reinforced, and your worldview is constantly reinforced. So you end up in this cognitive feedback loop.” While this idea explains much of the overarching theme of the entire record, “Into The Light” serves as a moment of compromising one’s pride to acknowledge that it is possible to be wrong, and to be guilty, and to know that you are working towards improvement. “I think that’s something that people could just use to hear,” Carlson said. Check it out above.
Here Again is out March 3rd on Triple Crown Records. The band will have copies of the vinyl on their upcoming tour with Moose Blood Trophy Eyes, and Boston Manor, or you can pre-order it here.
