Track By Tracks: Set The Lights - Set The Lights (2025)

1. What We Lost Tonight:

I was in a pretty angry place when I wrote this. I had just had a falling out with someone who up until then was one of my closest friends. It just made me think that people aren’t what they appear to be, and it hurt that someone I held so close to my heart turned out to be part of that statistic. We’ve since made up, but it’s not the same. They have no idea I wrote a song about them.

2. Golden:

I wrote this song while I was working in a job I hated. It’s about my own frustration, and about empowering myself and those around me. It’s a call to action, a challenge to take a leap of faith and seize my own dreams. It’s also a reminder that even though we may be doing something that wasn’t what we had envisioned for ourselves, as long as we keep the end goal in mind. If we do work towards it, we will always prevail.

3. Never Fear the Night:

This is our “love conquers all” song, which I wrote about my partner having to go away for work for several months at a time. We had just started dating, so distance was pretty daunting. This song was written for them, reassuring them that everything would be fine and that I would stand and face whatever the future brings our way.

3. That’s What Happens When You Kiss Your Friends:

I guess the spoiler alert is that you get friend-zoned. This tells the story of how an old friend of mine and I had an awkward awakening after a night out drinking. I had a bit of a crush on her before then, so after that, my infatuation only grew, but she was not interested in the least. She was my first friend in a new city, so her rejection felt worse, since she distanced herself from me, and I lost my only friend. I probably could’ve handled that better, but at least I got a song out of it!

4. You Won’t Sleep Alone Tonight” (ft. bebari):

I had always wanted to do an acoustic collaboration, and almost 10 years before this song was even a concept, I already knew who I wanted to collaborate with. This song was heavily inspired by a song like “if it means a lot to you”, and “Remembering Sunday”. It tells the story about a couple going through a breakup, and gives us a glimpse into how they each handle it. While I started off more apologetic and desperate, bebari plays the voice of reason. I really loved working with her and seeing the back-and-forth between these two characters which were inspired by our own experiences with past relationships.

5. Forever Young:

This is probably the darkest song in the EP. It starts off painting an image of the main character sitting silently, looking at everything he’s destroyed or burnt. The song is about this character wanting to sleep forever so that he won’t be haunted by the mistakes he’s made. I generally don’t like ending things on a sad note, because I always want to believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. So finally, the protagonist realizes that no matter how wonderful his dreams may be, they’re still just that: dreams. He realizes he doesn’t want to live a lie, and decides to close the door to his past and kick open a new one.