Arrows in Action's new album I Think I've Been Here Before comes out this week and we have a track by track; check it out below!
“Celebration”: You’ve finally made it through the fog. Though you feel anxious and scared, you see the light. You know what you need to do to feel good and damn it you are ready to do it.
“Feel It Again”: Nostalgia. You look back at your life and can finally appreciate the positive moments for all the negative ones that enshrouded them. You’re ready to feel those feelings again. And in the case of this song, you’re ready to try again with an old flame. “What's the worst that could go wrong?”
“Hello Sunlight!”: You’ve realized that not all the bad things in a relationship were necessarily your fault. You’ve spent this whole time blaming yourself only to realize, you aren’t as bad as that person convinced you, you were. They were mostly to blame, and you’re feeling yourself finally. “How the hell did I miss all the writing that was up on the wall?”
“Light Like You”: You’re off on an adventure. Looking for a casual fling and a new experience. This one is pretty dang literal and fun. It’s a cut-loose track about dancing, tripping, summer love, and being at peace.
“Lost in The Moment/I Don’t Make The Rules”: You feel comfortable enough finally to let yourself dive in and be smitten. Forget about the outside world and go head-over-heels. There are moments of reluctance “man I hate this part, it breaks my heart” in reference to knowing what's happened so many times before, but overall it's about letting go of that feeling. The sweetness of “Let’s get lost in the moment, I’m over, over thinking this” is important here.
“Deja Vu”: This is meant to be a literal dream scenario, a fantasy world about an ex where none of your issues existed. This is an overindulgence of nostalgia, one where your subconscious is free roaming in a world of your deepest desires whether it's healthy or not when you wake up.
“Corner of Your Mind”: This one is a quintessential “situationship” song but it's one where you’re okay being on the back burner. You prefer it that way because of how many times you’ve been on that front burner and burst into flames. You want all the simple pleasures and none of the complex issues, but it never stays that way.
“Cheekbones”: This song pushes the situationship to an absolute extreme. It's happening again. You are effectively a vampire’s toy. You’re being bled dry but kept alive for the sole purpose of indulging this person and you like it. “I can feel it in her bite, there’s something just a little more than ecstasy beneath those pretty little eyes.”
“Empty Canvas”: “Didn’t ever want to fall this hard again.” The mistake is made again, and again. But this time you’ve surrendered. Maybe it’s okay, maybe this one's healthy? We really wanted this track to stand out, it will likely be getting a saxophone solo. Though it has similar themes to “Corner of Your Mind” and “Cheekbones,” it is incredibly unique musically for us when it comes to some of its structure and chord progression.
“Nobody Told Me”: This song addresses those feelings of existential dread that arise when you’ve grown up thinking you might have things figured out by now. Relationships have dissolved, family has been estranged, months have been wasted in mental health fogs, and for what? Will this all be worth it? We couldn't have a record whose main theme is repeat-feelings without returning to the most difficult feelings of anxiety and depression. This time though, we wanted to look at the confusion of adult life. “Nobody told me that it gets this lonely.”
“Stay Awake”: As sad as this song may sound, its message is a positive one; love persists. Love tamps the anxiety of the past and quiets the dread of the future. The song is directly begging your most cherished person to stay with you, to lie and say “we’ll always be right here together.” It’s desperate, it's difficult, but it's hopeful. “Dancing in the acid rain, invincible in your embrace.” We like to think this isn’t just a relationship song, but a song for any two loved ones.