In just a week Australian musician Gordi will release her debut album, Reservoir. We’ve already been treated to several singles and videos from the album over the summer, and we’ve liked what we’ve heard and seen. Today Gordi released one last single and its video before the album is out, and as the last release before the album is in the world it’s fitting that it’s called “Bitter End.”
In keeping with Gordi’s narrative writing style, the instrumental also takes its own journey on “Bitter End.” It starts sparsely, with little more than a guitar for backing. As the track progresses and the story in the lyrics progress, so too do more instruments begin to chime in until the song ends on a rich and triumphant coda.
Gordi gave an in-depth explanation of the lyrics in a statement, saying:
“‘Bitter End’ is a song I wrote in 2013 at a time when I felt like these lives around me, and my own life, were centered on such small worlds that were self-centered and irrelevant to some greater meaning we should all be searching for. It was also a bit of a backlash against the other songs I had written, which were all about relationships and my journey through them. I was fixated on this idea that these small worlds didn’t matter, but by the time I finished writing the song I realised maybe they’re all that matter. If they don’t then what’s the point?”
The video features a puppet living an isolated existence while images of Gordi singing are projected onto screens alongside beautiful fields of stars. Jhess Knight was the puppeteer for the video, and the work done is simply fantastic.
Reservoir is out next Friday, August 25, on Jagjaguwar.