You may have heard already from this previous blog post or perhaps from a friend or colleague that on September 2nd 2022 there was a new music release by a band called Passing Harsher of which I make up the vocals and lyrics.

Similarly as I did with my acoustic solo record Jestem Krzywym Lasem, I wanted to share the official lyrics for each track with you and a little about what inspired the songs from my end.

I can’t speak to the production on any of these songs because that was all done by my pal KM North, but I can offer a little insight on the other stuff.

Listen to the album in full on bandcamp!

I’ll go in order of the track list because that just makes logical sense, starting with “Too Late”.

Too Late (Official Lyrics)

Like a child hiding from the thunder
Waiting for the window panes to break
All alone with no kind of comfort
Watching drip from tap to sink
Gripping on to a tattered sweater
Sleeves well worn, stained & frayed
Know how long I’ve been in this shelter?
Didn’t ever expect to stay

And I know that it’s not safe
If it comes back this way
But I know that I have to wait

Like a ghost that hasn’t yet crossed over
In between two worlds afraid
Unsure what end is closer
Feeling seen and lost all the same
Holding out for a sign or reason
While the walls start crumbling
Letting light drift into nothing
Running out of time to waste

And I know that it’s not safe
It’s coming back this way
And I know that I can’t wait
It’s closing in on me

It’s too late
I can’t wait
It’s too late
I can’t wait

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In “Too Late” I was imagining a young person in an abandoned home, so the first verse is pretty literal as a massive storm sweeps through the neighbourhood. They’re trying to keep their mind off their fear by focusing on the only thing they can spot from the table they’re hiding under – a leaky faucet from the kitchen sink. With them they have one of the only things keeping them comfort, an old sweater, either left behind by whoever was in the home before them or belonging to someone they knew, as they wonder if anyone knows how long they’ve been alone in this place and the realization that they themselves didn’t expect did be there as long as they have been.

The question at the outset is if this is their own home or if it’s one they found for some reprieve and I’ll explain that a little further in a second.

The chorus refrain is both literal and figurative and I’ll leave that up to your own interpretation, if they’re actually worried about someone or something coming back to get them or if it’s just the mental battle of “should I stay or should I go” and the pros and cons of those decisions. Admittedly, for me when writing it, it was a little of both.

If our protagonist hadn’t yet admitted their own fear in this situation, they do in verse 2. They’re feeling so lost and forgotten that they may as well be dead to the world around them and time just continues to pass without any positive changes. They know if they don’t make some sort of move, this is how and where everything could end for them. Things get progressively worse as they dwell on this and the walls start to fall around them. And here’s where I’ll explain that question about if this is their own home or someone else’s, because while I was writing about this person, I imagined them homeless, in the culls of addiction and without anyone to help them get through what is now one of the darkest periods of their life.

The thing closing in on them is really more about their fight to keep themselves alive, to fend off whatever demons keep leading them back to their addictions and destructive habits and to be able to move on and lead a fulfilling life – whatever that may look like to them. All they know is, where they are isn’t it, and they’re running out of time and options to get somewhere safe.

By the last verse, they’re giving in to the thought that they’ve waiting too long, nobody is coming for them, and they may be sunk.

It’s now or never, what do they do?

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Stay tuned for our next breakdown of track 2, “Stranded” – coming soon!