Blunt Chunks. Photo by Laura-Lynn Petrick
The FADER's "Songs You Need" are the tracks we can't stop playing. Check back every day for new music and follow along on our Spotify playlist.
Humans are pack animals. We've evolved to become the dominant species on earth by being amiable rather than ruthless, by mirroring the behaviors of those we love, and by letting once-strangers into our lives to become members of a community. Needless to say, there are a number of reasons why this doesn't always work out. "Part Of Me," the closer on the excellent debut EP from Toronto singer-songwriter Blunt Chunks reckons with the contamination that love – both the toxic and the cherished kinds – can have on our quest for individuality.
Caitlin Woelfle-O'Brien's indie rock ballad (created with an assist by Brendan Canning of Broken Social Scene) vacillates between treating companionship as a ripe boil to be lanced and something essential for one's own self-actualization. "You are a part of me / I wanna tell you now," she coos over blissful ribbons of guitar, "You take a part of me / I wanna take you out." Catharsis builds gradually throughout the song until she explodes into a declaration of her need: she needs someone to keep track of her sleep schedule, love her flaws, and give her the patience she doesn't have for others or herself.
Is that selfish? Perhaps. In a press statement, Woelfle-O'Brien called the song "kind of a narcissistic anthem... [it's] very self-involved and just a pleading cry to the heavens to be a better person and have a better life and be loved." This honesty is what leads to the great success of "Part Of Me," a song about losing yourself in another person and trying to find your way back. What could be more human than that?
