Have you ever lost your bike before? If your childhood was anything like mine, you’d have spent evenings biking around the neighbourhood with your friends in the summer, and you’ll have formed a lot of good memories riding around on that bike. And then when you lose it, you feel like you’ve lost something more than just a bike. It’s such a simple thing, but sometimes we attach great remembrances to seemingly nondescript items. Housewife’s “Matilda” is exactly that, singing about that feeling of loss and grief, of only having the memories to cling onto. The track is all glittery melancholia, soft and temperate with those perfect touches of indie and alt-pop influences. It’s airy, lofty, like a cool splash of water, but with plenty of depth to its writing that’ll make you think on the lyrics for their deeper, double meaning.
I always love a song that has wickedly good songwriting. Although “Matilda” may seem as if just talking about a bike called Matilda, a deeper examination of its writing will allow listeners to see that the track is more about the poignant grief that comes with losing a relationship that we value greatly. Decorated in measured instrumentals, a rhythmic percussion and gliding guitar, the track is heightened by its pondering soundscape, meandering, as if looking for something. I adore how you can apply the message in “Matilda” to anything you’ve lost in life– maybe that truly is a bike for some people, but I think it’s equally applicable to relationships, friendship and romance, whatever that may be for you. The lines that discuss Matilda specifically illuminate how we feel about those we have lost unwillingly; one goes, “I swear if you took Matilda / I think I might kill ya”, and another that says, “If you see Matilda / Just tell her I miss her”. There is the anger that lingers, but also the heartbreaking emptiness that comes with missing something or somebody. “Matilda” is a story with multiplicities in perspective, and there is something so deep that rests just underneath the surface of this track that makes it so interesting. With a smooth-as-butter soundscape and intelligent songwriting, this track has something for everybody.
Canadian singer-songwriter Housewife, AKA Brighid Fry (she/they), is creating sparkling indie rock suffused with poignant, exploratory songwriting. Housewife’s music often touches on important topics that deal with being a young, queer, AFAB person in an industry dominated by men. They first broke into the industry as one half of Moscow Apartment, the duo having won a Canadian Folk Music award for their debut EP; later, they changed their name and became a solo project in 2022. Their debut single “Be You” released in 2018, and was followed in 2020 by their debut EP “Better Daughter”. “Matilda” is the fourth track on their latest EP “Girl Of The Hour”. If you enjoyed “Matilda”, I highly recommend checking out the rest of Housewife’s vast discography, and also dropping her a follow!
Written By Alexa Leung
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