Track By Tracks: The Reticent - Please (2025)

About the album as a whole (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):

“Please” is a journey into the battles with mental illness that its author struggles with to this day. Mental illness is something that gets swept under the rug most often. People will often say after a suicide that they “wish they had known” or “wish the person had said something,” while frequently those who speak up face chastisement or even ridicule. Many disorders create a storm in their amalgamation as one piles on, having to hide one’s illnesses with sleeplessness and panic attacks and depression, and not being taken seriously when you do speak up - these all can contribute to a person feeling they have no way out. The epidemic of suicide is a reflection of this. “Please” is chosen as the title because that is the universal term applicable to all of these experiences - it is a supplication as we beg for sleep, beg for attacks to stop, beg for help, beg for it all to end. The undertaking of this album was a means for songwriter Chris Hathcock to navigate his own intense suffering and find a way to keep going when what he wanted to do was just let go and vanish into oblivion.

Track by Track (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY)

1. Intake:

This introductory track sets the scene for the mental illness epidemic and what it is like to live with it, featuring audio from psychologists and suicide survivors. The piano previews the melody and progression in “The Concealment”

2. The Concealment (Those Who Don’t Want To Wake):

This track is about what those struggling have to do to survive: hide. We learn to say we’re fine so we can get along. But then at the end of the day, the emptiness, the pain, etc., it all washes over us like a tide. With 1 in 4 adults experiencing a mental health crisis yearly, but 70% of them not seeking or able to get help, the notion of “we are lonely” refers to how we may be suffering similarly in silence right next to others feeling the same. Musically, the song is a dynamic progressive metal song that features interlacing harmonies, all culminating in the final giant crescendo as the song reaches its emotional climax.

3. The Night River (Those Who Can’t Rest):

Insomnia can take many forms, so in this case, it is represented by the nagging thoughts (hence the constant whispers in the left and right speakers during the verses). The lyrics begin very verbose and articulate before the exhaustion and fear turn to the notion of never sleeping again. The music is a bit more animated in the vein of prog rock, with many sections being exclusively tapped before it gets more aggressive as the desperation sets in.

4. Diagnosis 1

This is an examination of the symptoms of a panic attack and panic disorder. The sounds are meant to enhance the feeling of anxiety.

5. The Bed of Wasps (Those Consumed With Panic):

Aggressive, technical, and desperate, this song features the heaviest and most metal moments of the record, pulling from death and black metal and near constant odd time signatures. The dissonant sounds and odd rhythms are meant to keep the listener uneasy so that they may feel some of the panic attack. The lyrics are actually made from cutting out pieces of statements made by patients who suffer from panic disorder. The song culminates in the desperate refrain of “please stop” - something any sufferer will have begged.

6. The Scorn (Those Who Don’t Understand):

This song is decidedly more groove-oriented in keeping with the almost mocking tone of the lyrics. Lyrically, the song takes the perspective of someone who does not understand what it is to have major depressive disorder or suicidal ideation. As such, they instruct the listener to “just get over it,” pointing out “it’s all in your head.” The presence of more major chords and straightforward grooves is the world that those who don’t understand live in. Exotic hand percussion and string instruments like the oud are introduced in this song, making it feel further removed from the others.

7. Diagnosis 2:

This is an examination of the symptoms of major depressive disorder. The sounds this time are more dull and listless, almost calm. The ocean can be heard slowly fading in as it goes on transitions to The Riptide.

8. The Riptide (Those Without Hope):

This song features the thinnest texture of all of the songs on the album, made up only of keyboard, guitar, and vocals. The theme of water plays out sonically and lyrically as depression is represented as both an undertow pulling someone under the surface of the water and a riptide pulling them far from shore. The depression washes away all hope and won’t let go, so the sensation of drowning begins.

The guitar solo in the song is also done with the tone knob completely rolled down, creating a more muted sound like we would hear underwater.

9. The Chance (Those Who Let Go):

This song is a perspective on suicide from the vantage point of someone who feels it is their only way out. As such, the song takes on a peaceful, almost hopeful feel in both harmony and melody. This is to represent the peace that comes from knowing that their suffering will soon be at an end. There remains conflict, however, in both how the narrator hesitates as well as distant pleas of “help me please,” indicating that this is something he is struggling with. Suicidal people don’t actually want to die; they just want to escape - they want the pain to stop. The lyrics begin painting pictures of a place without pain, representing the fantasy of release that people feel on the edge of suicide. The music is more intimate here with acoustic guitars and brushes on the drums that transition to a melody that repeats over and over but builds more and more each time, culminating in a large crescendo mirroring that of The Concealment, but it is suddenly cut short, and we are left with silence, suggesting that the narrator did, in fact, pull the trigger.

10. Discharge:

The title here is a double entendre, and its meaning depends on how the listener wants to interpret it. A person could be discharged from a hospital or clinic, and a firearm can also be discharged. A broken piece of the melody from The Concealment (and Intake) plays against a more somber droning background while we hear from a suicide survivor describing losing her husband. From there, we hear from two different psychologists giving perspectives on what affects and impacts suicide. This piece is a reflection on the aftermath of suicide.