In the follow up to their 2016 album The Devil, The Dark & The Rain Melbourne’s Foxblood released “Bittersweet”. The track was released 31st July, and sparked an Australian tour for the five piece, wrapping up earlier this month. We’re featuring “Bittersweet” as our Track Of The Day today, coming in brand new to the band.
The introduction of “Bittersweet” feels wide open, like a deep inhalation, before a story starts to unfold, about how life could have been so much better. He sees a beautiful life as something that he threw away. He didn’t appreciate it while he had it, and now it is lost.
He’s found himself unraveled now and is struggling within himself in the aftermath of what has happened. He feels like everything is inevitably lost anyway, such is the rolling wheels of time, but he also feels responsible for the destruction of what he had. Now, he’s simply doing what he can to survive.
“Bittersweet, you know what they say
I guess everything’s going to kill you one day”
The peacefulness of “Bittersweet” that I found in its soaring melodies (that exist even behind a wall of breakdowns and screams), feels almost ironic in its calmness in the face of the heaviness of the experience. The bridge is heart-wrenching, acknowledging the painful experience of having lost a part of himself, having left it behind in a moment where he couldn’t be there for someone he loved.
Lyrically, “Bittersweet” is refreshingly direct and real, making it easy to fall into the situation as it happened, as well as the anguish that remains.
The song ends powerfully with an impressive breakdowns and a last gasp of heartaching discomfort.
Soak up “Bittersweet” via the lyric video below and check out more from Foxblood via Spotify.
