Clara Mann eloquently juxtaposes love and loss in “Confessions,” weathering the storm of life whilst revealing the fragile, yet perseverant nature of love.
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In this life, love trumps all. This notion of loving someone unconditionally and being loved by them in return has been pronounced to be the equivalent to finding completion in this life, and therefore many of us spend our waking hours searching for this extraordinary bond. Though, once we are lucky enough to stumble across love, we must fight tooth and nail in order to keep it.
But what happens when there isn’t any fight left in us?
I said you could have asked me
But you didn’t want to know
Then the wind blew in and
something took the fight out of us both
And even when we’re laughing,
don’t you sometimes feel alone
Maybe storms are made for lovers
to walk each other home
Self-defined “almost-folk” singer/songwriter, Clara Mann, explores this query in her track, “Confessions,” released Nov. 1, 2022 alongside her sophomore EP, Stay Open. In said melody, Mann explores her first-hand experience of attempting to love someone through a period of difficulty; capturing the feelings of cold isolation that arose out of a time where she could have been feeling more cherished than ever.
Mann, however, is not spiteful about these circumstances. There is no trace of the white-hot rage, or unfettered resentment that typically simmer under the surface of classic breakup anthems. No — only loneliness reverberates through this tender ballad as Mann wears her heart on her sleeve, expressing her deep sorrow and regret.
So you swear you love me,
But who are you to say
When you still believe I’ll break your heart
somewhere along the way
You want to hear confessions,
well I’m twisted out of shape
Somehow we just keep crashing on and on,
and through each broken day
Within “Confessions,” Mann gives listeners a taste of her signature songwriting recipe:
A couple of handfuls of melancholy thoroughly mixed in with a pinch of heartbreakingly candid lyricism. Rest assured, this is no track for the hopeless romantic.
Mann’s voice rings out with striking clarity at the top of the track as she sings, “I said you could have asked me / But you didn’t want to know,” her bright vocals peeling like the bells of a wind chime as she addresses her lover. As one listens, they might wonder if Mann is, in fact, reading directly off of a letter that was never sent to the intended recipient. Some things are better left unsaid — spoken only to the universe — and rest assured, Mann and whatever cosmic forces might be out there are becoming very well acquainted. Her painstakingly reflective prose comes expressed as a hushed secret, voiced just above the volume of a whisper as she softly strums her guitar.
You know I love to ramble
But you’re a quiet I can’t fill
And suddenly I’ve lost my grip,
and everything’s stood still
I’m falling like I used to, before you knew me well
And I remember how we fought in spring,
and only blame myself,
Well, I can only blame myself
Despite what some lovers may allege, relationships aren’t always easy; they are more often than not complicated and full of nuance. Mann captures these characteristics in clever lyrical juxtapositions, remaining devotional — yet altogether unattached — as she navigates through this time of confusion. “You know I love to ramble,” she discloses to her partner before ultimately conceding, “But you’re a quiet I can’t fill,” carefully catching herself before she falls too deep into the throes of affection once again.
This wariness does not come without reason, as Mann gradually realizes that her attempts at salvaging this relationship might only result in creating more pain. “So you swear you love me / But who are you to say / When you still believe I’ll break your heart somewhere along the way,” she asserts, throwing all notions of kismet aside, and facing the cruel reality of this situation.
So if you have some judgment,
Don’t let it hang for long
If the storm comes in for us,
then we can walk each other home.
Along with Mann’s recognition that this relationship will most likely come to an end, she manages to preserve an ounce of hope for whatever the future may bring. She stands firmly, even in this moment of immense vulnerability; clinging to a small spark of optimism in a way that can only be described as being an ever-so-human tendency. She connects this trying time to the ebb-and-flow of nature, realizing that mother nature herself goes through cycles of hardship and ruin. Even when theoretical ‘bad weather’ looms over the horizon, Mann theorizes, “maybe storms are made for lovers to walk each other home”; guaranteeing that even in the midst of the tempestuous storm of life, there will always be a safe path for us to find our way back home again.
Extending an understanding hand toward the broken-hearted, Mann’s “Confessions” authentically illustrates the painful motions associated with the end of a relationship.
Her somber musings act as a soothing balm for those of us with cracks that have yet to heal over. “Somehow we just keep crashing on and on, and through each broken day,” Mann expresses as she offers up the only cure that will fix this malady: time. And thus, tune out the pitter-patter of life’s hardest rain showers as you allow Mann’s opus to safely shelter you under its tiny umbrella, peacefully walking you back home.
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Stream: “Confessions” – Clara Mann
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