12.12.22

“The laaaaast one”

Light at the end of the tunnel. Trust. Letting go.

I’m not able to do it any other way. Most of my albums must finish stressing one of these elements, and it’s usually done in the final track of the album. Do you remember “OK” from the first Riverside release? It has been like that right from the start. Quieting down, end credits, fading out.

On Riverside albums I had “Coda” on “SONGS”, “Found” on “LFTM”. I searched and searched, and I found. On “Wasteland”, even though the world had ended, the last song was about finding people who survived and getting warm by the fire. Lunatic had “Walking on a Flashlight Beam”, “Moving On” and “The Fountain”.

On the new Riverside album, we have a concept again, and again the last track in which we see a slightly utopian image of shared happiness. Both in the music, and in the video clip. “Light at the end of the tunnel. Hope. Trust”. But this time without “letting go” because, especially these days, we should not let go. (Although for me, “letting go” happened in a slightly different form, which I will talk more about probably later on in interviews ;)).

“ID.Entity”, even though it has a colourful cover and seems to be positive at first glance, contains quite painful messages. In the lyrics I’m talking about why we’re so unhappy, why we don’t trust, don’t understand, and don’t listen to each other. Overall, there are a lot of sad, even if important and needed stories on the album. Depressing because they reflect our current mental state. So I definitely needed another “Coda”, another “Found”, another “The Night Before”.

And we have “Self-Aware”. Out of context, it may sound entertaining. But it’s needed on the album because it extinguishes all fires and stresses that in this day and age we simply have to stick together.

Is it possible to make an album without a coda? It is. Can you disturb the scheme? Of course. I have done it myself a few times. But I felt that the albums which ended with a “Wanderings” or a “Temporary Happiness” left that very much needed moment for “collecting thoughts”. Just like at the cinema, the last scenes which we need to “conclude” the entire film (provided it’s not “The Return of the King” where only the most devoted fans can survive the “conclusion” :)).

I’m not sure what albums with a good ending you can think of, but I feel some of them must be your favourite ones

Photo by Radek Zawadzki