Enter Matt Corby's 'Brother'.
I couldn't help but do some digging when I came across this song this evening, purely by accident, I might add. Almost immediately after I heard it, I wanted to find out what Corby was writing about. When an artist composes something as unrestrained as this, there must be some significant, personal emotion attached.
I came across an interview with the man himself, where he talked about what the song meant. Apparently, this is something he never, ever does. So I am lucky to have found it.
"Lately, I have come to
realise that a dear friend, one with a great influence on my life, might be
drifting away. Because of certain decisions he is making in his own life. And
because when we were friends, I never really had the guts to tell him about the
weaknesses I saw in his life.
It’s heartbreaking. And
a lesson I’m slowly grasping. That I do not want to live in a world where
people cannot tell me I’m wrong. Or where I will not listen to others who dare
to put their heart on the line, and tell me something’s amiss.
May I learn to speak out
with courage and love. And receive instruction that strengthens bonds, not
frays them."
This song is essentially a dynamic, powerful and somewhat explosive musical journey that is condensed into a few minutes.
At the beginning you think to yourself, ‘yeah,
this is good stuff’. You know it’s good, but you don’t know why. And then
suddenly, a couple of minutes in, as one critic put it "it grabs you by the shoulders and shakes you really
hard". It’s good stuff because you can feel it, really feel it, and that’s
something that makes this song extraordinary. That is, its ability to captivate
and intrigue, in an incomprehensive, other-wordly kind of way.
Corby seems to have an
inner fire, and in "Brother" he unleashes it to the world - especially
in the last twenty seconds of the song, which are definitely worth putting the spotlight on.
My instructions? Listen, rinse, repeat.
