FOLLOWING the release of ‘Maybe You Didn’t Know’ a few weeks ago, The Ninth Wave are back with a profound new single called ‘Piece and Pound Coins’.
A powerful reflection on grief and personal loss, the track sees Haydn Park-Patterson’s raw lyrics laid bare against hypnotic melodies and ethereal soundscapes. And while a heavy sense of loss permeates the track, there’s a real vibrancy to the instrumental – the ruminative piano melodies, the pulsing beats, echoing harmonies and big synths feeding into the rawness of it all.
Inspired by a personal loss, the band’s frontman said : “I wrote this song about a friend who passed away a number of years ago. I’ve never really felt like I could write about him for a few reasons, mainly because that for a long time, I wouldn’t have known what to write. It was only one day last year when he popped into my head that I felt myself wanting to write about him and the memories that we shared. I had stumbled across an old video that I remember laughing at with him (it’s a video called Piece & Pound Coins by a cartoonist called Davey Swatpaz) – it was the first proper night out that we became pals. From that moment, I got the first line of the song and the title. The rest of the song was written that afternoon. Writing about death is a world away from writing about heartache/love/friendship because there’s nobody to listen to the song and wonder “is that about me?”. It’s a strange feeling, to write a song about someone that you know can’t ever hear it.
“At the time of writing the song, I was reading a book called “Tongs Ya Bas”; it’s a history of the most infamous Glasgow gangs and the things that they used to shout at each other before slashing each other with razors. “Come On Die Young” is one of these taunts and it’s where the first lyric of the chorus originated from; I just changed it to have a bit of a different meaning.
“It also touches on the thought of wondering what he’d be up to now, 5 years on in his life, as well as letting out a bit of confused anger that I felt not long after he passed. I watched how some people reacted to his death and the way in which they talked about it. That’s the meaning behind the line “death makes some people sad and some people ugly and some people took your name for their own sake”.
“Piece and Pound Coins is one of my favourite songs that I’ve written purely because I’m surprised I was able to write it and put into words the feelings that I’ve had for the last 5 years (it was 4 years when I wrote it). I like to think that he’d like it, as he was one of the most supportive and positive-minded people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.
“This song is for Gary Watson. Love ye forever.”
Listen below.
