In the context of failed relationships, there’s a pseudo morbidity that allows you to believe that your former partner is dead only to you. After all, if you’re no longer sharing the same life, why would their heart go on beating without yours? In reality, it’s a defense mechanism against the pain of the past. On “Graveyard,” the alt-rock artist Cosette Gobat explores the gloomy depths of an expired relationship in shades of dark serenity.
On this latest single, the London transplant, by way of Philadelphia, establishes a lo-fi fuzziness that casts a gray cloud mood over the entire track. At the same time, it’s not a woe is me bout of self pity that’s fit for a good cry. In general, it’s that disaffected type of grunge that has no effs left to give. Instead, it balls up its fists into a tight bundle of rage and relief that can only be described as an uneasy peace. Don’t get it twisted, there’s an anger to it, but it’s highly composed in unloading the burden of their former, other half.
As Gobat tells it through her solemn, stiff upper lip delivery, the story begins with checking in on an old flame who’s found to be “falling apart.” However, they’ve found solace in the arms of another, which leads this track down a deconstructive rabbit hole where their twisted anger is manifested in words of “make believe.” In the end, Gobat has fashioned this song into a memorial for when their former love meets their “end of days.”
“Graveyard” could have easily become a morose, funeral dirge that drags you through the mire of a messy relationship. Instead, there’s a shot of confidence mixed in that comes from a mature place of acceptance. Not all post-mortem relationship songs have to be so sappy that they’d be sponsored by Kleenex.
Written by Travis Boyer
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