As COVID-19 isolation and lockdown continues here in Melbourne, bands like Vermont are still alive and well and continuing to create behind the scenes. The band have recorded an intimate and homely moment of theirs, complete with socks and living room audio, all coming from the comfort of the couch.
As you’ll see in the video, Vermont’s vocalist Joshua Swanwick, guitarist Jono Hnatejko, and bassist Nathan Borg got together during this period of gig-less quiet and recorded an acoustic version of “Cope”. “Cope” is the final of four songs in the tracklisting of their debut EP Vermont, which released in March.
“I’m constantly self-deprecating just to deal with the failing”
None of the homely candidness diminishes the music, with Vermont still expressing emotional heaviness in this coming-of-age song of regret. Vermont describes “Cope” as being about seeing others fall short of expectations, and this subconsciously inspiring a response to put pressure upon oneself to not follow that same path… only to realise later that they too have done the exact same thing. It’s easy to see this dynamic as something that happens in relationships with our parents, where we swear we’ll never make the same mistakes, but have some qualities of theirs seep in to our behaviours.
“Cope”‘s emphatic chorus captures the idea of distaste and pressure succinctly, and the aching lines that trail off are buoyed by the gentle yet forlorn instrumentation. Despite the absence of drummer Curtly Lyon, the song still hits emotionally and hangs heavy in the air.
Join Vermont in their living room for a contemplative moment and watch “Cope” below.
