Song 21 // Record Setter - "An Explanation"
Why should I ever have to explain myself or my body or anything?
I know what I am
I know how it is
I just
I just can't take the look on your face
After I've said it, you said everything
Without even speaking, you said everything
There’s a magical feeling when you stumble upon a record and listen to it for the first time and come away entranced. Each song transitions so effortlessly to the next that the notion of individually separated tracks is unnecessary — a seamless listen from start to finish. When so much feeling is emoted not only through the words but also through a sonic journey of genres. This was my experience when I listened to Record Setter’s latest album, “I Owe You Nothing.” The album roots itself in post-hardcore and moves in and out of elements of emo, screamo, and shoegaze that gives the listener everything even when the band owes us nothing.
It’s not the end
But I can't help it, it feels like it is
You said everything
You said everything
Record Setter — from Denton, Texas — released “I Owe You Nothing” toward the end of last year after the band ended up recording the album twice due to the pandemic. “An Explanation” features all the raw emotions and vulnerability that manifests throughout the album. The song shifts through sounds and playing dynamics while Judy Mitchell (guitarist and vocalist) sings and screams through pointed and unguarded lyrics. It’s the way her vocals interchange from tender singing to strained screaming that brings out so much feeling and empathy in the song. The transition is swift — a vocal assault — but it harmonizes with the crashing cymbals, pounding bass, and guitar work that make the song so powerful. No one needs to offer any sort of explanation for themselves or their bodies.
I guess I'm not upset, just disappointed that I expected anything
Less from you
Cause now I know that means
That I don't even see myself all that accurately
And my broken sеnse of self is further fragmenting
The song’s title can be viewed as a reference toward the album’s name but it also digs deeper into the album’s theme of acceptance and a separation, “leaving behind relationships and belief systems” that are no longer a part of you (Stereogum interview). In the same interview, Mitchell talks about “telling your story honestly” and it’s apparent that this is the most honest and direct set of songs Record Setter have put out.
I think I know the answer, but I don't know the steps
And I don't know the order
I just know that I don't want to stay
I don't want to stay
The song catapults itself to a frenzy before a quiet lull of contemplation. The respite is only temporary before a last cathartic release.
I don't know if I can keep up
I don't know if I can keep up with this
Just hold my hand the whole way through this
// press play
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