Getting older is hard. All of a sudden a world once filled with happiness and joy can feel so bleak and depressing. That’s one of the overarching things that connects us through the emotions experienced in growing up. These darker feelings are encompassed in the lyricism behind the new track ‘Learn to Like Me’ by Box of Matches. The lyrics are deep, dark, and poetic, and the band cites one of the influences as being about growing up. The sound is extremely somber, but the beat makes it a great track to bop to. ‘Learn to Like Me’ is the perfect melancholically nostalgic track to listen to as winter ushers its way in.
‘Learn to Like Me’ hits just the right somber note with its sound. The production adds a dreamlike atmosphere, and the vocals have a breathy rasp undertone that lends itself to this sound. The bass seems to pull itself into the beat with its tempo driving notes that blend in seamlessly with the drumbeat. The guitar adds a lot of bright color to the track, and it really rounds out the indie sound. The solo particularly slaps. Despite its melancholy tone, there’s just a dash of an upbeat swing that makes ‘Learn to Like Me’ the bop that it is. When you listen it’s like, this is such a vibe, oh, wait, it actually goes really hard. Hell yeah!
The lyrics of ‘Learn to Like Me’ also hit that melancholic tone, and they’re charged with an overarching poeticism and originality. This poeticism is well captured by the lines, “You want to feel it but you can’t / Not when your eyes have frozen over / As if with hard candy coating.” The band explains that this track is, “at least partially inspired by the longing to be a kid again.” This element of sad nostalgia seems to expand into both the sound and lyrics within the piece.
Box of Matches is a California-based indie band consisting of Aaron Baker (rhythm guitar/ vocals), Kendra Meneghetti (lead guitar/vocals), Garrett Mingardi (bass), and Mark Mckinney (drums). They all met in different ways, mainly from finding other members at open mic nights, and came together in their musical passion. Box of Matches creates an eclectic range of indie rock and pop, and their lyrics have a basis in great works of literature. This is shown even in their name, as it’s based on Nicholson Baker’s short story, ‘A Box of Matches.’ Their lyricism also derives from the deep and true difficulties of their band member Kendra. She had a life-threatening lung and heart disease growing up and ended up going through a double lung and heart transplant in September of 2021. Box of Matches creates deep and emotional music based on real experiences that pulls from a wide pool of sounds, genres, and influences.
Written by Sage Plapp
