Singled Out: Southtowne Lanes' Witness

Keavin Wiggins | 04-16-2024

Southtowne Lanes just released their new single "Witness", from their forthcoming album, "Take Care", and to celebrate we asked vocalist / guitarist Matt Kupka to tell us about the track. Here is the story:

"Witness" was originally written on a particularly rough tour in a hotel room outside of Pueblo, CO in 2019. It was in the middle of a two month tour, and I was struggling. The song came from a place of defeat, frustration, and resignation-it was meant to be an album finisher, not a beginner. But eventually I would see that the song goes on to establish a common theme heard throughout the rest of the record, which is the concept of light going out and where that light goes. This song is the first time the light goes out.

The lyric "I'm like a dream waking up seeing I wasn't real" was the only original lyric that made it through to the final version of the song. Dreaming or awake, the light on or off, and eventually alive or dead, the song exists in between states . The entire intro, verse, chorus, and second verse is extremely energetic and major-key (light on), and then in the bridge we switch to heavier, darker, minor key feeling (light off.) Eventually, with the string section coming in towards the end, it feels like we will end big and energetic with the light on, but the final lyrics and ringing piano suggest a different outcome. We incorporate this light on/light off into our live show throughout our set.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more about the album here