"Broken bones, bad ideas, Got lots of those, Up in here, In my brain-area, In my brain area..."
"Bad Idea" by Portland, Oregon singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Matthew Heller is not what it seems to be. On the surface, with the sprite piano playing and big downbeats, it strides folk ballad and jangle pop territory and Matthew's gentle voice and vocal melodies while somberly drawn have a pop bounce to them in that sort of Ben Folds Five sort of way. Delving into the meaning of the song made me feel severely sad even though I listened to "Bad Idea" repeatedly, the masochist that I am, because it is a beautiful song. The song tells "the story of a suicidal ex-lover who eventually ends up in a padded mental health unit" and after reading the one sentence back story some of the curious lyrics make absolute sense. Especially this verse:
Blasphemy,
And a bad idea,
They’ll come take me away,
While my mind’s still clear,
Thank god for the view,
They took your belt away,
And your bra straps too,
And your bra straps too.
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.facebook.com/MHellermusic/
https://matthewheller.bandcamp.com/track/bad-idea
http://www.matthew-heller.com/
Matthew Heller has never shied away from the hard truths of life in his music. Revealing, confessional, brutal honesty, and self-reflection is the stuff of Heller’s songs, but in his new single, “Bad Idea”, Heller ties together humor and hip-hop turn of phrase. The result is an indy-rock flecked piano ballad that tells the story of a suicidal ex-lover who eventually ends up in a padded mental health unit. Bending between melancholy and optimistic, bitter and grateful, “Bad Idea” – produced by and featuring multiple instrumental performances by producer by David Pollock (CAKE, Wild Ones) - is an immediate modern pop classic.
“Bad Idea” comes on the heels on Heller’s most recent full length, Maybe My Love Was Just Right. The dirty pop-rock of this record, fueled by propulsive rhythm and driving basslines, ignited by tight chords and tighter melodies, prickles with palpable energy, oscillating between agitation and exhilaration.
Prior to that, Heller had released a beautiful record called Temple Moon Desire. The record, produced by Pollock, is imbued with compassion born of tragedy. Tour in support of the record was scheduled to start February 1st, 2020 - but the global Covid-19 Pandemic brought it to a screeching halt. As the Pandemic shut down the music industry, it also shut down the ... everything.
When Heller started working with producer Mike Coykendall (M. Ward, She & Him, Bright Eyes), he was in between three different toxic relationships with partners that were abusive, malicious and habitually cruel. Even though he was writing and recording, something was wrong. Eventually his drummer, saxophonist and close friend Ian Christensen told him he had to make a change.
Heller began writing songs that told the story of the work of becoming a better person.
He had tracked a bunch of demos with Coykendall and Simon Winestock (David Bowie, Sting, Tears for Fears), and recorded some pristine multis with Pollock. He enlisted Katie Buchanan to add additional production, but they ended up reproducing an entire record together over the summer of 2020.
Heller realized, the whole album, every song, from all their different time points and origins, where only about one thing; learning to become a better person. Inspired, Heller was determined to burn bright as his truest self. To come out of the closet as a weirdo, to move away from "sensitive guy" and into radical flamboyancy. The chill evenings taught him to cool down and accept the apologies from those who had hurt him, and to apologize to those he'd hurt. He vowed to no longer look at events in his life as failures, but as steps slowly inching toward the precipice of nirvana. It is through this lens that Heller has interpreted a particularly Bad Idea.
"Bad Idea" by Portland, Oregon singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Matthew Heller is not what it seems to be. On the surface, with the sprite piano playing and big downbeats, it strides folk ballad and jangle pop territory and Matthew's gentle voice and vocal melodies while somberly drawn have a pop bounce to them in that sort of Ben Folds Five sort of way. Delving into the meaning of the song made me feel severely sad even though I listened to "Bad Idea" repeatedly, the masochist that I am, because it is a beautiful song. The song tells "the story of a suicidal ex-lover who eventually ends up in a padded mental health unit" and after reading the one sentence back story some of the curious lyrics make absolute sense. Especially this verse:
Blasphemy,
And a bad idea,
They’ll come take me away,
While my mind’s still clear,
Thank god for the view,
They took your belt away,
And your bra straps too,
And your bra straps too.
So, the "Bad Idea" theme, title hits hard. I love how the song is structured. There is not a repeated sung chorus but a musical one and a repeated instrumental sort of post chorus that acts as a magnifying glass to illuminate the words, serves as space to digest them. There are probably a lot of people around you who have had similar such bad ideas or try to numb the pain in their gut and the tears that stream down in the shower. Maybe some of those faces exist in the mirror. I have known and seen those faces and maybe that is why this song punches me so hard in the gut.
I described Mathew Heller as a singer-songwriter / multi-instrumentalist but could probably include bleeder too. I get the sense that Matthew exorcises the muck of life, auto-biographically and observationally (as social commentary) into his art. I get the sense that he has to make his sonic art because if he doesn't he might go crazy (figuratively speaking) and I get the sense that he feels that sometimes God, if there is one, is laughing at us all. Sorry for playing an armchair psychologist. I do that from time to time even though I dropped out of college.
"Bad Idea" comes on the heels on Heller’s most recent full length, "Maybe My Love Was Just Right" which I have not delved into yet. Hope I have time to do so during these busy, busy times.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.facebook.com/MHellermusic/
https://matthewheller.bandcamp.com/track/bad-idea
http://www.matthew-heller.com/
Matthew Heller has never shied away from the hard truths of life in his music. Revealing, confessional, brutal honesty, and self-reflection is the stuff of Heller’s songs, but in his new single, “Bad Idea”, Heller ties together humor and hip-hop turn of phrase. The result is an indy-rock flecked piano ballad that tells the story of a suicidal ex-lover who eventually ends up in a padded mental health unit. Bending between melancholy and optimistic, bitter and grateful, “Bad Idea” – produced by and featuring multiple instrumental performances by producer by David Pollock (CAKE, Wild Ones) - is an immediate modern pop classic.
“Bad Idea” comes on the heels on Heller’s most recent full length, Maybe My Love Was Just Right. The dirty pop-rock of this record, fueled by propulsive rhythm and driving basslines, ignited by tight chords and tighter melodies, prickles with palpable energy, oscillating between agitation and exhilaration.
Prior to that, Heller had released a beautiful record called Temple Moon Desire. The record, produced by Pollock, is imbued with compassion born of tragedy. Tour in support of the record was scheduled to start February 1st, 2020 - but the global Covid-19 Pandemic brought it to a screeching halt. As the Pandemic shut down the music industry, it also shut down the ... everything.
When Heller started working with producer Mike Coykendall (M. Ward, She & Him, Bright Eyes), he was in between three different toxic relationships with partners that were abusive, malicious and habitually cruel. Even though he was writing and recording, something was wrong. Eventually his drummer, saxophonist and close friend Ian Christensen told him he had to make a change.
Heller began writing songs that told the story of the work of becoming a better person.
He had tracked a bunch of demos with Coykendall and Simon Winestock (David Bowie, Sting, Tears for Fears), and recorded some pristine multis with Pollock. He enlisted Katie Buchanan to add additional production, but they ended up reproducing an entire record together over the summer of 2020.
Heller realized, the whole album, every song, from all their different time points and origins, where only about one thing; learning to become a better person. Inspired, Heller was determined to burn bright as his truest self. To come out of the closet as a weirdo, to move away from "sensitive guy" and into radical flamboyancy. The chill evenings taught him to cool down and accept the apologies from those who had hurt him, and to apologize to those he'd hurt. He vowed to no longer look at events in his life as failures, but as steps slowly inching toward the precipice of nirvana. It is through this lens that Heller has interpreted a particularly Bad Idea.
* * *
Matthew Heller, singer-songwriter, Portland, Oregon, "Bad Idea", folk pop, ballad, bouncing lyrics, dark subject matter, bloodletting, full album, "Maybe My Love Was Just Right", multi-instrumentalist,
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