Singled Out: Matias Roden's Disease with No Name

Vancouver-based artist Matias Roden recently released his introspective new single "Disease with No Name", and to celebrate we asked him to tell us about the track. Here is the story:

My songs often begin with a small burst of inspiration-a phrase, concept or melody that pops into my head and that I hurriedly write or record into my phone before I can forget it. With "Disease with No Name", it was the title lyric. I had been suffering from recurrent lower back pain for a while and my doctor at the time didn't seem to believe me or know where to send me that would help. I was frustrated, and the phrase "can't find the cure for a disease with no name" came to me and I immediately recognized it had 'song potential'. I often find one of the key aspects of songwriting is knowing what little bits of serendipitous creativity fit in what part of a song. Is this little melody that I came up with a verse, chorus, or pre? Is this string of words a song title, or just a lyric?

After that, the song title itself seemed to suggest a certain elegance and the music quickly fell into place in my head. I could hear a nimble piano line and then a melancholic, high-pitched wail of a riff over that, and steely drums underneath, like time marching on punctuated by a recurring sadness. The words came naturally after that also, and a melody formed over them. Sometimes writing songs is painful and truly feels like 'work', this one fell into place very effortlessly.

One of my favourite music genres is trip-hop (Massive Attack may just be my favourite band ever) and in my mind this is my take on the genre. It feels very 'London' to me, where I grew up partially as a wee lad and which has always been a second home. Perhaps it only makes sense in my head. But to me it's a song for dense, grey, stylish urban landscapes; fall or spring music, not quite the bitter chill of winter and definitely not the refreshing warmth of summer; for feelings of melancholy that don't quite burst into outright sorrow. My back pain eventually got way better after I started working out more consistently and whatever muscle was pinching a nerve found some relief from its neighbours getting stronger. I think subconsciously I must've been writing about more than that-existential malaise, the feeling something isn't quite right in life, with a kind of sardonic, self-knowing attitude towards life's little unpleasantries that maybe makes it a little easier to get through. Get well soon, carry on, just hold on, my disease with no name.

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

News > Matias Roden