“A hymn for the exhausted.” That’s how the liner notes describe Caretaker, the forthcoming album by Portland, Oregon-based songwriter, Malachi Graham. The aftermath of a bad break-up in all of its far-reaching consequences, where what was said and felt during the collapse echoes through the very foundations of your world. What if everyone is pathological and self-serving, even yourself?
First single ‘Together For the Kids’ introduced the record’s “uncompromising exploration of these behaviours and herald[ed] the more rock-oriented style Graham has embraced to capture the experience in all of its chaos,” as we wrote in a preview. “Starting tense and bitterly wistful before blooming into a gloriously noisy catharsis.”
Now Malachi Graham has returned with ‘Wonderful Life’, a song which takes the record’s themes and situates them in the pressure cooker of the festive period. Addressed to her mother, the song ruminates on a time of organised fun and false cheer, not to mention the associated baggage of all those Christmases past. “There’s enough of me to go around, until there’s not,” she sings, but though the song originates as little more than soft vocals and sparse drum machine, something in the confession triggers a sort of blooming. As though in acknowledging real pain and suffering, Graham cuts through the false reassurance of the holiday period to instead work towards a real gesture of love.
Caretaker is out on the 19th January and you can pre-order it now.
