This post is part of the ongoing blog breakdown series where I dive into the official lyrics, stories and thoughts that inspired the lyrics for the recently released Throughfare EP. If you haven’t yet, give the record a spin on bandcamp and jump back to the first blog on this record by clicking this handy link.

Today we’re talking about track 2 on the record: Under/Over.

Listen to the album in full on bandcamp!

Stream “Under/Over” and then read on for the official lyrics and my breakdown.

Under/Over (Official Lyrics)

Remembering the roar
Just above the overpass
While we lay beneath
Debating worn out philosophies

I didn’t know you could come apart like that
I didn’t think it meant more to you than anything
Now what I need, you’ve given up and sold for cheap
As though you couldn’t see the value it brings

I retrace the letters before the words completely fade
Making sense of the clutter that you called inordinate
I fall further forward the more that you pull away
A last resort to reclaim what was lost that day

Remembering the tread your shoes left in the sand
Splatter from the riverbed creeping up and into them
Voice hoarse and weak from showing such restraint
A point so well made it left a shattering wake

I retrace the letters before the words completely fade
Making sense of the clutter that you called inordinate
I fall further forward the more that you pull away
A last resort to reclaim what was lost that day

(Before the words completely fade)
(The more you pull away)

I retrace the letters before the words completely fade
Making sense of the clutter that you called inordinate
I fall further forward the more that you pull away
A last resort to reclaim what was lost that day

I retrace the letters before the words completely fade
A last resort to reclaim what was lost that day

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You could consider the title of this track a play on a gambling term but, it’s actually just a quirky little reference to the first verse which places us directly underneath an overpass.

Under/Over speaks to reminiscing about a lost relationship where no subject was off limits, until of course you cross a line that you didn’t know they had and they take it so poorly that you can’t even understand how it affected them so deeply.

In a broader sense it’s about understanding that everyone’s experience is uniquely different and you’ll never be able to place yourself fully in another’s shoes so you have to breach some subjects more carefully than others.

In the chorus we find ourselves reflecting on where we went wrong and what we could have done or said differently. This is a place I find myself often even when I believe there was no better way to handle whatever situation I’ve found myself in.

And sometimes it’s the aversion to repair or re-evaluate that drives you further into wanting this type of closure before you can move on. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword.

Ultimately Under/Over follows us as we go to extreme measures to understand and repair our past but, the take-away is understanding that we wont always get the closure we seek and some things will remain broken.

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Next time I’ll talk a bit about track 3 that continues this short story: For Nothing.