Review Summary: Tales of a broken man.
One morning I found myself sitting alone in front of my computer. My monitor sat before me, full of meaningless, hollow words. My fingers ached as I continued to type. The clock that lay in my peripherals read out 2:00 AM. The dim moon past my window was shrouded by clouds, and once my laptop was closed, the only light came from a candle next to me. I stopped and stared into its flame and began to conceptualize it. The wick was being burned down to nothing, but it still produced light. It sacrificed itself to help people. It was burning itself out for the sake of creating light in the darkness.
Flatsound is a project created by Mitch Welling and it revolves around crafting emotional lo-fi music. Welling became agoraphobic in 2008 and claimed he “didn’t leave [his] house for almost 10 years.” During this time frame, he has crafted wonderfully touching and delicate songs.
Four Songs for Losing You is a challenging listen. Welling using this as an outlet to express himself and all the issues he faces in his life and in the process, intentionally or unintentionally, places them on the listener. His screams in “you wrote ‘don't forget’ on your arm,” his subtle yet haunting harmonies in “learning to hate you as a self defence mechanism,” his huge crescendo in “you wanted to look for help, i wanted to sit and wait to be rescued,” and his use of bells and synthesisers in “in the absence of everything, i promise to keep you warm” all help propel this artist and make him unique and beautifully define him as a songwriter.
Despite the sorrow seeping through the lyrics and the tenuous guitar playing, the biggest thing I feel from this release is hope.
While the average listener can very easily relate to the struggles and situations presented from this EP, I cannot. Welling’s lyrics echo in my head, but I don’t feel what he does. He sings about losing someone he loves, but I feel bad about pushing people that loved me away. I look back on the promises I broke and the people I ruined all because I was careless with my actions. My nights are spent staring at the ceiling instead of staring at a dream landscape because my past is something I can’t escape; but, even in the absence of all happiness, I still have hope.
Mitch Welling is a man who has been through a lot, and instead of keeping all of it bottled up inside, he decides to let it out through his music. He creates a space for listeners to feel safe at his own expense. He created a light in the dark by burning himself, and I aspire to be like that. I strive to be like the candle that sat next to me that early early morning. I want to create light where there is none, even if I burn myself down to nothing in the process.
Four Songs For Losing You will create a different experience for everyone. It will make old memories reappear and will incite a bit of self-reflection. It can be a positive listen or a negative listen, it all depends on what it makes you feel, and for me, it makes me feel like I’ve “always been a sh*tty friend.”
