The New Year holds a strange mix of hope and tribulation; equal parts excitement for what the next twelve months might bring and also fear that it could somehow go all wrong. Perhaps that’s why we gather together with friends and family on December 31st, to put the past behind us and take some luck with us into the future. However, over recent years, such celebrations have become smaller or even solitary as we do our best to stay safe and evade the persistent covid-19 virus. California four-piece Box of Matches capture this mix of nostalgia, warmth and sadness with their self-titled single.
Explaining the process behind the new song, the band’s songwriter tells us that:
“We released this track New Year’s Eve 2021 because we felt it conveyed a lot of nostalgia and a certain warmth, even though the lyrics are somewhat sad. It’s the first song of ours that wasn’t written by me (hi, I’m Aaron) but was written and sung by our lead guitarist Kendra. She actually spent six months in the hospital in 2021 and received a heart and lung transplant in September (she’s 28). While she was recovering the rest of the band and I dug up an old vocal take for this track and were able to craft the rest of the song around it.”
We’re struck by the poignancy of Kendra’s pensive voice and especially her uncertain lyricism, “I don’t know how it ends”, which takes on a whole new meaning when you take her life’s recent events into consideration. Keeping in step with the gentle lull of her voice, the band provide clear-yet-warm acoustic strings, easygoing drums and happy-go-lucky bass. Throughout the last minute of the song, a noodling guitar riff takes over, providing those last moments for the listener’s own thoughts to fly free, wondering what’s to come.
You can find this lo-fi gem in our Outsiders Club playlist.
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