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There’s a strange bit of judgement that comes when we watch someone make what we think is a bad decision. It comes from a caring place, to be sure, but sometimes what seems detrimental from the outside can actually be the completely proper course of action from the inside. That might well be the case in the situation of WALL, the New York post-punk outfit that disbanded just months after receiving a CoSign. The band was well on the rise, but even before the released of their forthcoming debut/final album, Untitled, they clearly had internal discussions that led to them deciding to call it quits. Such an action might sound confounding, but who are we to judge what the four-piece chose for themselves?
That altruistic desire to reach out and help is also the center piece of WALL’s latest single, “Save Me”. Panicked guitars churn over drumming that pounds like a terrified pulse, but the fear isn’t aimed at the song’s protagonist. Instead, it’s looking outward at someone who’s “addicted to danger” and doesn’t want to be stopped from hurting themselves. The lyrics follow a series of encounters with individuals deciding life is no longer worth it, and despite cries to “Save me from myself,” they simply can’t help but jump. “I got down on my stomach, offered my hand,” goes one verse. “But she just slowly shook her head/ And peeled off one finger at a time.”
“‘Save Me’ takes inspiration from the media depiction of jumping to your death,” the band explains to Consequence of Sound. “When a character wants to end it all, you will find them standing on the edge of a bridge threatening to jump while someone tries to talk them down. Elizabeth Skadden wrote the lyrics inspired by the idea of coming across these people and seeing in their eyes that there is no way to change their decisions, but they don’t blame you. Vanessa’s drum inspiration came from her friend James of Total Control’s beat for ‘Retiree’.”
Take a listen:
Untitled is due out April 28th via Wharf Cat Records.