The story of this particular song begins four years before its actual release. Grey Glass was always somewhat of a revolving door of musicians. I think we lost and replaced six people over the lifespan of the group. As frustrating and drama inducing as those lineup changes were, each of those musicians contributed and shaped the way I see and write music. I am grateful for all of them.
During one of our earliest writing sessions, I brought the lead riff and a chord progression for the verse to the band. Then bassist and founding member David budge went into the other room and came back with the chorus as we know it now. I remember playing it at one show and watching the audience light up during Dave’s genius line, “I love the way you come undone.” But we can’t always have nice things. Over the next three years four different bandmates expressed extreme distaste for the song, one even saying they hated it and refused to ever play it live. It fell out of our tracklist after one gig and I was afraid to even talk about it for a while.
I felt insecure about the song. After all, it’s straightforward pop rock; it’s loud, it's fun. People liked it. Everyone knows musicians aren’t allowed to have fun right? But really- songs like these are scary for musicians because the line between a genius pop song and a canned butt-rock track is quite thin. As much as I love experimental music, art rock is safe because it pretends to the idea that it doesn’t care to be seen, that it needs no validation. But writing a pop song is a lot like stand-up comedy- genius if it lands, catastrophic and ego shattering if it flops. Pop is a brave, divisive beast.
Fast forward four years, and the day came to resurrect the song. Luckily, at that particular time I had the right team to do it. Scotty Knutson played the drums like an energetic, thrill thirsty animal. Casey Ball wrote glassy, clean guitar lines and sang backup. He even played a bass as a rhythm guitar to add extra beef to the low end. Eli Pratt is responsible for basically any nuance you hear in the song, and he tightened up the continuity and composition, giving it a good flow.
So at this point the band was right and the song was mine to ruin. I decided to approach the lyrics to reflect the rocky journey of the song even coming to light. After all, it was our band’s red-headed stepchild and I couldn’t help but wonder why. I came to the realization that we were afraid of “Undone,” because it was a song that so clearly wanted to be seen. The next epiphany hit me when I realized that often as a human beings we are the same way. We all want to be seen and understood and we’re all terrified of rejection. Heaven forbid someone sees us without makeup and swipes left. The chorus line, “I love the way you come undone” tells of someone so committed to the acceptance of someone else that they even love to see the ugly, expressive or otherwise hidden side of their human nature. After all, what a beautiful thing: wanting to be seen and finding someone entirely unafraid of seeing everything.
Often in order to be accepted we must constantly present a perfectly groomed, lifeless version of ourselves. This sucks hard. Ironically, the act of conforming to societal norms and pretending to carelessness is often the ultimate cry for acceptance and validation.
We released the track and I guess all our worst high-brow musician nightmares came true: it was our most popular song. But I love it because it wanted to be seen and it came to life. Listen to it here:
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