Wondrous and groovy, layered and longing, Mumble Tide’s “On My Deathbed There’s A Full Page (You Don’t Get To Read It)” brings a moment of emotional depth and self-empowerment to life in song.
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Stream: “On My Deathbed There’s A Full Page (You Don’t Get To Read It)” – Mumble Tide
… but the dark is always lit up by your darkness…
A dreamy, glistening ray of effervescent sonic warmth, Mumble Tide’s September single will have us reveling in ourselves long into the new year. Wondrous and groovy, layered and longing, “On My Deathbed There’s A Full Page (You Don’t Get To Read It)” brings a moment of emotional depth and self-empowerment to life in song.
Yes it’s a long and winding track title; soak it up, for lying in wait is an exhilarating take on something far more complex: The nuanced perspective of a volatile heart.
not sure I really wanna know
what you’re scheming
you’d never really go out of your way
to see me in the flesh and
I bet I could kill another night
with the light
from the screen
waiting for the four
not sure I really wanna know
what I’m leaving alone
always take another look
as if it’s gonna grow
gonna grow gonna grow
Released September 7, 2021 via Nothing Fancy Records, “On My Deathbed There’s A Full Page (You Don’t Get To Read It)” (or “Deathbed” as we’ll henceforth refer to it) is one of Mumble Tide’s latest singles off their forthcoming mini-album, Everything Ugly (out December 3).
Following on from earlier singles “Sucker” (which Atwood Magazine described as “charmingly dynamic… a wave of passion”), “Breakfast,” and the EP teaser Everything Ugly (Part 1), “Deathbed” finds the Bristol-based duo-come-couple of Gina Leonard and Ryan Rogers dwelling in the throes of vulnerability – or rather, basking in its depths. The song adopts a multi-dimensional approach to what feels like a romantic relationship, although it doesn’t necessarily have to be. Gina Leonard sings gently against effected guitars, driving bass and drum beats, spilling an intense and revealing confessional that brings listeners intimately close to the artist and her band. The song’s buoyant, dazzling chorus marks an especially poetic, visceral, and memorable moment of truth:
but the dark is always lit up by your darkness
somehow I never hardened
on paper I’m a damn fool
“I wrote this song a while ago,” Mumble Tide’s Gina Leonard tells Atwood Magazine. “It’s one about reflecting on years of unrequited love – about the light that can shine out of a void…. texting someone late at night who you know is bad for you. It’s about how chasing something that isn’t real requires creativity and resilience, but also ignorance. It’s one of our more poppy, youthful tracks but there’s a healthy dose of cynicism and confidence in there that I guess comes with age. We went through a lot of different versions with this one and nearly gave up on it many times, but we kept coming back to it and finally things fell into place.”
“It’s ended up being such a fun track,” she adds. “Over the years I’ve written a lot of more one dimensional, sad, self-pitying songs about heartbreak but I guess that got old for me. There’s a mix of emotions in there, it’s like I took the crushed hope, sprinkled it over ice cream and now I’m licking the spoon. It’s definitely one to play loud in your bedroom, maybe dance around in your pants while the summer’s still clinging on.”
not sure I really wanna know
if my conscience could
take another blow I know
I’m full of nonsensical poems
but the dark is always lit up by your darkness
somehow I never hardened
on paper I’m a damn fool
The beauty of “Deathbed” lies in its execution and its subtlety: The song is vague enough to be interpreted in any number of ways, while still giving off a sense of vulnerability and self-confidence. Meanwhile, the music is utterly enthralling – a structural pop song wrapped in alternative and dream-pop garb.
“It’s quite a dreamy, poppy sounding track – but honestly, it drove us crazy,” the band’s Ryan Rogers admits. “It started life as a kind of indie disco tune, we’d been listening to loads of bands like Tennis and Tops…. I think the last Haim record had just come out as well, and we were loving that. But the look really didn’t suit us, Gina had brought it as something she’d written on acoustic, I wapped a fat obnoxious disco bass line on it and after a while we just couldn’t stand the sight of it.”
“It was actually the first of the new batch we did, so we left it simmering away and came back to it as the very last track we finished, ditching the disco stuff and focusing a lil more on the song.”
Mumble Tide debuted only last year, but the band have made a fast name for themselves in indie and alternative circles thanks to their polished sound and their alluring mix of intimacy and intensity, rock and pop, tension and catharsis. One doesn’t need to fully relate to the band’s songs to understand their stories or feel their feelings; Mumble Tide convey these things naturally, capturing snapshots of life in motion through their expressive, emotional music.
Whether you’ve got a romantic crutch or some other kind of person who’s holding you back, preventing you from being your best possible self, or simply keeping you in wait, Mumble Tide have once again succeeded in capturing our minds and our hearts in “Deathbed.” We are each our own individual person, and like the narrator in this song, no matter what happens, only we can truly control our own destiny; however much we may be affected by someone else, we don’t need to give them everything if we don’t want to. We can have our own pages (metaphorical or otherwise) hidden away, that they’ll never see, hear, or read as well.
While “Deathbed” gives us lots to think about, its radiant energy ultimately moves us to get down and groove. Bask in Mumble Tide’s multi-faceted glow below, and stay tuned for the band’s mini-album Everything Ugly out in December!
Do I come across impatient?
always get back so quick
the truth is I waited waited waited
it got so twisted in my head
oh the dark is always lit up by your darkness
somehow I never hardened
on paper I’m a damn fool
the dark is always lit up by your darkness
somehow I never hardened
on my deathbed there’s a full page
you don’t get to read
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Stream: “On My Deathbed There’s A Full Page (You Don’t Get To Read It)” – Mumble Tide
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