Live for any amount of time and you will quickly learn that life isn’t as black and white, as cut-and-dry as you may think – or like. We navigate complex feelings, bruised egos, and nuanced conversations regularly. Life can be a beautiful and bittersweet experience. In his recent single “Reading This Now,” Warkworth, ON-based singer-songwriter Matthew Holtby mines these contours of relational terrain, and the result is a tune that is worth listening to, turned up and with the windows down.
On the surface, “Reading This Now” is a breakup song – the title is a reference to a note left by the protagonist for the person he is singing to – but there is more here. He starts off sounding assured in his plans, talking of the “few cities in between” and a “new skyline” – like he has a new perspective on life. But he follows that by lyrically painting a scene that shows more conflicted feelings: “There’s a broken-down car outside the barn up the road / And a weathervane hanging all crooked from the rain and the snow / I’m a half mile past where we ran out of gas years ago / So I’m taking my time and I’m gonna drive by it once more.”
Musically, “Reading This Now” moves along at a steady pace, with an easy midtempo flow that acts as a counterpoint to the highs and lows that the singer puts to words. Holtby’s vocal delivery is placid but still emotive, reminiscent of fellow Canadian songsmiths Ryan Thomas Smelle and John Muirhead. The bass guitar and drums set an even foundation as shimming electric guitar accents – culminating in the solo around the middle of the song – dance their way around the melody.
With this backdrop, Holtby talks of the combined hope of seeing the person he is singing to and “the million little things” he misses while also not being sure what he would do if their paths do cross again. He ends by resolving that he thinks the way he is leaving the circumstances is best, though it feels that he may be trying to convince himself of that.
The combination of specifics and the points left to mystery make for a story of love lost, perhaps later to be found again, but ultimately, “Reading This Now” is an ode to the uncertainty that can attend relationships that holds out hope it will all work out all right in the end.
Photo Credit: Bryan Reid
Matt Wheeler is a Lancaster County, PA-based singer, songsmith, stage-banter conversationalist, husband, & special-needs father. And an avid vinyl record collector, a purveyor of random facts, & tour-er of Canada (southern Ontario is a favorite destination). Ever since being introduced to Great Lake Swimmers' music through Pandora in about 2009, he has had an appreciation for Canadian music.
Matt's songs & stories, including his classic literature-based project "Wonder of It All," can be found at www.mattwheeleronline.com.
