A stirring indie folk record of hope, heartbreak, and trauma, Woodlock’s ‘Collateral’ EP is an intimate overhaul of the self ready for universal consumption and catharsis.
Stream: “Collateral” – Woodlock
Holding onto hope is so important, and for some reason it can be a difficult area to approach. We wanted to approach hope but in a humanly real way, when it is hard to see it.
If music is a vessel for the deepest form of self-expression – a means by which we may confront, disentangle, and come to understand our innermost selves – then Woodlock’s latest EP captures, in so many ways, the reasons we turn to music in the first place. A stirring indie folk record of hope, heartbreak, and trauma, Collateral is an intimate overhaul of the self ready for universal consumption and catharsis.
Late nights talking in the sheets
I’ve been caring for you a while now
Backgrounds are forever changing
We have both allowed
Late nights talking in the sheetsI don’t know where I’d go
We have been a team for the longest time
Wants aren’t burning like they used too
Even though your mine
I’ll be made anew
Even if it all came crashing down
We’ll make it work
We can make this work
‘Cause I know you
– “Normal,” Woodlock
Released October 9, 2020 via Nettwerk Music Group, Collateral is Woodlock’s first EP in five years’ time and a deep, powerful take on life experience from the Melbourne-based folk rock band. Consisting of New Zealand-born brothers Zech Walters (guitar/vocals) and Eze Walters (guitar/vocals) alongside Bowen Purcell (drums), Woodlock have seen tremendous growth since 2013’s debut EP, Lemons – whose mix of bright, sweet tones and deep, darker reflections feels as relevant now as it did seven very long years ago.
Woodlock’s musical evolution – one that finds the band now sounding more cool, confident, emotional, and finessed than ever before – is just one part of the group’s 2020 story.
“The EP fundamentally is a musical journal of us growing through a difficult period of time,” the band tell Atwood Magazine. “So often we always want to be better people, but true growth comes from struggling those dark spaces where the best choice isn’t necessarily the easiest. Holding onto hope is so important, and for some reason it can be a difficult area to approach. We wanted to approach hope but in a humanly real way, when it is hard to see it.”
The EP fundamentally is a musical journal of us growing through a difficult period of time.
Starting with the tender, poignant song “Normal,” Collateral offers a deep dive into the fray as Woodlock explore human connection, purpose, and place inside and out. The band blend metaphor and honest realism into wondrously spellbinding enchantments:
It’s not a violent flame
It’s a slow lit burn
In a rainless night
But the wind still turns
How we hurt the ones
That we love and know
In the violet flames
That we wont let go
They’re burning
They’re on fire
They’re still collateral
So I’m choking now
But I don’t feel pain
And the wind won’t stop
And I can’t feel rain
Level out my love
We’re the ones I know
In the violent game
But the ones we know
are burning
They’re on fire
They’re still collateral
– “Collateral,” Woodlock
Per the band, their EP follows several years of struggle Zech Walters, who underwent a breakdown that left him questioning himself and his place. “For a while, I was really struggling with depression and a sense of hopelessness,” Walters shared via press release. “I was desperate and just wanted it to end and I didn’t really care how. Seeing everything I valued and held dear disappear and was left with a destructive war inside myself. I was looking for someone else to save me because the situation was too big to fight on my own.”
While not all of their new songs harken back to these moments of self-doubt and personal crisis, Woodlock take Walters’ experiences and grow from them together. Songs like “Superhero” and the aching folk song “In Your Mother’s Arms” embrace space as a means of centering oneself and communicating one’s deepest feelings; the latter is an especially haunting track that invites all to dwell in their own silence.
By the time “Start Again” heralds the beginning of the EP’s end, Woodlock begin to look up and turn the page. Though Collateral may not strictly be thematic in a conceptual sense, its final songs “Start Again” and “Friends” resonate with sonic warmth; it’s an incredibly cathartic uplifting sensation, provided as much by the band’s vocals as by their dramatic, sweeping guitars.
We often turn to music in our lives – for help connecting with others, for understanding the world around us, and for getting in touch with ourselves. If you’re going through your own dark spell, Collateral can be there for you, too. A beacon of emotion and honesty, Woodlock’s latest confidently delves into the darkness and comes back with a little more light.
Experience the full record via our below stream, and peek inside Woodlock’s Collateral EP with Atwood Magazine as Eze and Zech Walters take us track-by-track through the music and lyrics of their new record!
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:: stream/purchase Collateral here ::
Stream: ‘Collateral’ – Woodlock
:: Inside Collateral ::
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Normal
Eze Walters: We have been a team for the longest time. We have a friend called Norm who expressed to us that love after a while becomes like a deep friendship. The statement really resonated with Eze, and he wanted to express love beyond the honeymoon phase to something deeper and more fundamental.
This song is about being married for a longtime. When the honeymoon phase has ended long ago and you’re left with familiarity, deep friendship. Not using the word “love” was important because the things associated with it today don’t tend to last. So knowing someone deeply is what seemed to be the right fit. In our day and age where divorce is so common, I wanted to capture love that has been tried, struggled and stood the test of time.
Collateral
Eze & Zech Walters: The others all around us, they’re on fire. When relationships breakdown, people can get lost in their pain and not see how others are hurting. And emotions, like fire, can surge out of control when left unchecked; hurting everyone near to the flames.
I really wanted to write a song about the collateral damage that toxic relationship breakdowns have on the people surrounding them. So it seemed only right to compare two people trying to hurt each other to a small flame in perfect conditions to grow into an uncontrollable flame. Hurting everyone close to them.
In Your Mothers Arms
Zech Walters: When I held you the first time in arms I knew that I’d never let you come to harm. A letter to Zech’s son. We struggled to get this to feel the intimacy that the lyrics express. So rather than a big perfected production, we just sat together and played it. In the same way, if someone was just singing a song to you.
Start Again
Zech Walters: As the depths of my heart call too deep, I am changing. Start again is based around the desire to become more than who you are. There is a definite sense of sadness to the song in its melody and lyrics. But there is a sense of hope too. It’s almost a recognition of sadness. But, ultimately, we think it expresses hope for the future.
Superhero
Zech Walters: Is it over? Beyond the Breach? I need a hero. A constant plea, this song is like a call for help. There are certain areas where no matter how much you try, you can’t get out of your own way. In a time where depression and anxiety are so apparent for some seeking help is to them to admit weakness. For Zech coming to that place of seeking help was a difficult process. But one that was necessary for his growth.
Friends
Zech Walters: In my short life I hope to find, my truest friends I’ll have all my life. Friends is a commemoration from Zech to his closest friends. Many people come and go but there are those friends who stick closer than a brother. For us 3 we are always going to be there for each other. Our music comes second to our friendship. We can depend on each other through thick and thin.
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:: stream/purchase Collateral here ::
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