Matthew Steven Whitaker – HOW IT USED TO BE

Kunci rumah yang jatuh berdenting di lantai dapur selalu jadi pertanda buruk bagi sebuah malam. Mengakomodasi luka lama itu, solois indie folk Matthew Steven Whitaker melepas single pembuka bertajuk HOW IT USED TO BE, membungkus patah hati yang getir ke dalam balutan tempo yang justru berderap lincah.

Ia meluncur santai tanpa tergesa-gesa. Gesekan bas tegak dan petikan gitar akustik berpadu akrab di sektor bawah, sementara desau lo-fi berpadu dengan sapuan cello dan synthesizer yang dingin di udara. Ketukan drumnya pelan-pelan menanjak naik, memberi ruang bagi tarikan vokalnya yang ringan untuk melayang di antara tumpukan instrumen. Bumbu melodinya renyah dan gurih, menolak tenggelam dalam ratapan yang cengeng.

Ada kepedihan yang telanjang saat ia menatap orang yang dicintainya limbung di ambang pintu.

Kita diajak mengangguk-anggukkan kepala mengikuti ayunannya yang bersahabat. “I stared blankly at the ceiling fan / Listened to your favorite band”, dendangnya datar, menertawakan ruang hampa yang tersisa saat percakapan sudah kehilangan maknanya.

Saya sendiri sempat menimang-nimang apakah nomor murung berbalut tempo lincah ini bakal terasa canggung di telinga. Nyatanya tembang HOW IT USED TO BE racikan Matthew Steven Whitaker ini justru berhasil menyelipkan rasa ngilu yang enggan lekas pergi.

Lirik Lagu Matthew Steven Whitaker – HOW IT USED TO BE

It wouldn’t matter if I wasn’t sore
You dropped your keys on the kitchen floor
It wasn’t the first time that you came home drunk
And told me I was yours

I stared blankly at the ceiling fan
Listened to your favorite band
Wishing that everything could be just how it
Was when we first met

I asked you what’s wrong
Before you were gone
But you stared straight into the TV screen
You said you’re okay
But it wasn’t the same
It didn’t matter to you anyway
I’m falling apart
And it’s gettin hard
Just to remember how it used to be
And I remember how it used to be

It wouldn’t matter when I got up
Threw your clothes under the rug
Hoping you’d come back soon just to tell me
You forgot your stuff
You still answered when I tried to call
Pulled my picture off your wall
Taking your medication to escape
And get you through it all

I asked you what’s wrong
Before you were gone
But you stared straight into the TV screen
You said you’re okay
But it wasn’t the same
It didn’t matter to you anyway
I’m falling apart
And it’s gettin hard
Just to remember how it used to be
And I remember how it used to be

And I was scared to tell the truth
Got wasted in my room
I couldn’t find the words to say
So I just laid down
And you
You stumbled through the door
And fell into my arms
You never tried to say anything
When I was around

I asked you what’s wrong
Before you were gone
But you stared straight into the TV screen
You said you’re okay
But it wasn’t the same
It didn’t matter to you anyway
I’m falling apart
And it’s gettin hard
Just to remember how it used to be
And I remember how it used to be
I remember how it used to be

Matthew Steven Whitaker Profile

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Eksplorasi kurasi harian kami yang tak kalah memikat bisa kamu temukan dalam ulasan The Male Pattern – I Was Shot in the Heart! serta tembang pilihan di arsip Gregory Ackerman – Suddenly I See.