On his first track of 2021, New Jersey singer/songwriter Sam MacPherson invites us to relive what once was his everyday “Routine.”
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Stream: “Routine” – Sam MacPherson
Sun through the blinds, leaving stripes on the rug
I would open my eyes, you’d be already up
Spinning circles on your toes
The latest track from New Jersey native Sam MacPherson, “Routine” is a lament of a past love.
The song opens nostalgically, with the singer-songwriter mourning those mornings that once started his everyday routine. Crafting vulnerable, cinemagraphic lyrics, MacPherson doesn’t just tell us about his past; he brings us into it. We experience everything, from the soft streaks of sunlight to the delicate dancing of his former partner. We’re there with him in this routine, for better or worse.
I was so accustomed to having you with me
Falling in love was a part of my everyday routine
As “Routine” continues, it slowly builds on itself. What starts out as some vocals and soft piano chords grows into a groundswell of vocal distortions and riffs, as if every voice in this harmonious choir is another instance of MacPherson, living out another day of this routine. It’s beautiful, it’s layered. And then, just when it’s reaching its climax, everything stops. Mirroring the lyrics’ height and subsequent fall, MacPherson cuts all sound, leaving us with an echoing descent of what once was. Eventually the song continues – there’s a gorgeous guitar solo, audio from a voicemail – and the rest of “Routine” does in fact measure up. But the routine itself is over.
And that’s quite the high to come down from
I’m not sure how the future’s gonna measure up
“Routine” is an absolute gut-punch of a song, and yet it’s hard not to be addicted to it. Like MacPherson’s 2020 tracks “Solar Flare” and “No Bad Memories”, “Routine” is alluringly beautiful. But beyond that, it’s timely. Conceptually, we’re all living through a comedown of our previous, pre-pandemic routines. We’ve all experienced loss in 2020 – it may have been the loss of a loved one, or it may have just been the loss of our sense of normalcy – and we’re not really sure how the future’s gonna measure up. But, like MacPherson does in his latest track, we’ll live through it and we’ll figure it out.
Garnering over half a million streams in just a few weeks, it’s safe to assume that many are adding Sam MacPherson’s music to their everyday routines. Stream “Routine” below.
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:: stream/purchase “Routine” here ::
Stream: “Routine” – Sam MacPherson
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