LUNE // ‘The Change Around Us & The Change In You’ Track By Track Breakdown By Nathaniel Smith

Melbourne metalcore outfit LUNE have released their sophomore EP The Change Around Us & The Change In You out via Resist Records.

MORE: NOFX: Fat Mike and his Eternal Footwaer Gratitude REVIEWS: CLOWNS: ENDLESS // BLINK-182: One More Time… // POPPY: Zig // MAGNOLIA PARK: Halloween Mixtape II // LUNE: The Change Around Us & The Change In You

Collaborating with Jamie Marinos on production, Lance Prenc with additional drum engineering and Buster Odeholm on the mix and master, the quartet unleash their fierce new collection alongside an all-star team.

Their lyricism and expert musicianship has seen LUNE jump from strength to strength, skyrocketing digital streams to over 1M since inception and summoning the attention of heavyweight tastemakers across the nation.

The steadfast four-piece joined the Destroy All Lines roster in 2021 and celebrate their recent signing to established independent record label, Resist Records, home to Polaris, Pridelands and Mirrors among others.

Vocalist and songwriter Nathaniel Smith sat down with Hysteria to give readers an insight into the quartet’s second extended release …

Progeny:

Krys and I built a DIY vocal booth in the garage of our house and I locked myself inside, throwing every idea I had at the wall until something stuck. Listening to intuition and not overthinking every detail is what made the vocals on this song come to life.

Thematically, this song is Manipulator part two. I felt as though I had more to speak about in relation to my experience with family violence. Family is complicated and that is especially relevant for us. Family ties are often used as an excuse to not hold someone accountable for their behaviour.

The title Progeny came from the fear that in some way, negative traits are hereditary and a vehement refusal to take on the negative qualities of a toxic family member. Unlearning habits and behaviours that you have subconsciously learned and all of the negativity of that upbringing that you see in yourself, breaking that cycle and being better for yourself, as well as the people that you love.

We are not the failings of our family or the things we have experienced. You owe it to yourself to unlearn all of the things that harmed you and the unhealthy schemas that were put in place as a result of your environment in an effort to survive.

Letting Go:

It’s no secret that I write from emotion and Letting Go is no exception to that. This song is about a falling out with a friend that I couldn’t reconcile with. I’m glad that this song gave me the opportunity to have a cathartic release of the anger I had at the time towards a falling out with a now former long term friend.

Left Behind:

When I was younger, I was so self assured and things felt simple. As I grew older I frequently found myself becoming overwhelmed and began questioning my place in the world.

It became harder and harder to reach out to friends in a time when I felt the most broken by things my brother and I had experienced together. I started to ask myself if this is all life would be, falling deeper and deeper into a mundane routine and finding it harder to reach out to loved ones, unable to ask for help.

That was until I found a place in music.

Left Behind is a dedication to my band and to my friends. To have a positive outlet and a way to speak through something we made together has given me a great sense of purpose and belonging. When nothing else in the world makes sense, we have a common goal and a way to keep pushing through adversity together.

When listening to the bridge of this song instrumentally for the first time I knew there was something needed for the song that I couldn’t provide myself. Having Garrett, who I look up to on our song, is such a surreal experience and I’m so thankful for all of his efforts to make this happen. I remember sitting down to listen to his part for the first time and being completely overwhelmed by emotion.

The lyric “finding beauty in the blur” means being able to find joy in the fast pace of it all instead of being overwhelmed by it.

It became harder and harder to reach out to friends in a time when I felt the most broken by things my brother and I had experienced together. I started to ask myself if this is all life would be, falling deeper and deeper into a mundane routine and finding it harder to reach out to loved ones, unable to ask for help.
[ Nathaniel Smith – LUNE ]

Winter Sun:

This song evolved so much over time. I’m glad that we took time to develop this song because it gave me time to process the subject matter and deal with the emotions I was writing about. Relationships end, the feelings that come with it never truly go away.

Writing Winter Sun gave me an opportunity to process the end of a very important relationship in my formative years and be able to look back in fondness at the time we spent together, rather than lamenting over what could have been.

I’m thankful that I got to love and had the opportunity to experience real love. I’ll always be grateful for that.

The Memory Replays:

The Memory Replays is about a recurring nightmare that I had and the shame that comes with surviving domestic violence. I felt like a crazy person. I was waking up in the middle of the night, heart beating out of my chest. Finding it difficult to relate with anyone after having experienced something so traumatic and every night or quiet moment in the day I was reliving it over and over again.

Trauma can cast a long and lasting shadow. This song is dedicated to survivors and anyone that knows the quiet hells that post traumatic stress can bring.

Healers:

My brother and I had just finished the recording of Exit & Factory Fires/Funeral Pyre and we had more that was coming out of us. Krys had been working on something in a different tuning for fun, with no real intention of using it for anything. I heard the bones of the song, a lot of which still exists in the final and completely fell in love with the song. I insisted that it make it onto the release following Factory Fires.

At the time I was also surrounded by friends fighting their own battles in different stages and I started to realise I needed to put the love and energy I was giving out to others onto myself. While I knew I would lose some friends in the process I knew that my true friends will always understand and respect the space I needed to make for myself.

How can we have the capacity to heal others if we can’t heal ourselves?

“Don’t try to explain yourself

I need to do this on my own.

And when you’ve had enough

I’ll see you on the other side”

Change is inevitable and it’s how we adapt to it and not how we try to control it that will shape us. No matter what has happened, there is always room for change, there is always a better waiting for us if we choose.

“No one is coming to save us, we have to save ourselves.

This is the change around us and the change in you”

Purchase and stream here.