Music Review // Neil Haverty "Man Down"

 

Neil Haverty has created a song within "Man Down" that feels less like a song and more like a mini-album.  It's just the way that this takes you on a journey but also feels so complex that it doesn't seem like your typical song, which can sometimes feel like a snack and this has the makings of an entire meal.  I just enjoy that this song has this depth to it, it's just filled with this weight that can be overbearing at times but this is also the point of the song.

As "Man Down" unfolds with big piano keys and that voice with bass in it, there is a dramatic feeling.  In some ways this can be sort of spooky, like a song from "Donnie Darko", but then eventually it kicks in full with drums and these synths which remind me of "Stranger Things".  This song stays musical right up until the end, with that feeling of there being more music in it than vocals and lyrics.

Rght near the start the lyrics ask: "How do you get out of a house that caves in?".  This line becomes so important to the song because not only does it set up the idea of the title, but it shows everything else happening in the song.  You just have to imagine someone being buried under the weight of the world and them trying to find their way out of that.  How do you do it?  How could anyone do it?  Sometimes it just feels like too much and it can really overtake us.  

One of the things which I really love about this song is that it has no conclusion.  It asks the question about survival and it doesn't really give you any option of how to survive.  Sometimes life just doesn't have those answers.  I hear a bit of the Seal song "Crazy" in here and maybe there's an answer in there, but life isn't always going to be so neatly wrapped up with a conclusion and that's okay.  Hearing this song will hopefully serve as a reminder of that as well.