Track By Tracks: Windwaker - Hyperviolence (2024)

1. Infinity:

For Infinity we wanted a song with big arena rock energy with an expansive arrangement and production that gave the album an explosive start. (Chris) Lalic always refers to this track as the “cinematic opener” to the album with its overall feel. Lots of sing-alongs, “stanky” grooves, and enough thrashy aggression to keep the metalheads happy.

I wanted to explore the complexity of love and forming strong relationships in the modern age in this song. With the way our experiences from the past can carry over into future relationships and dictate how we navigate life, it seemed like a miracle to me how we still manage to make connections.

2. SIRENS:

Creating this song was a pivotal point early on in making what would eventually be HYPERVIOLENCE. It struck the right balance of catchy pop hooks, and electronic soundscapes with heavy groove passages that we knew the song had to be a leading single.

Much like on Infinity, I was witnessing so much conflict and so much noise online and offline, that I was inspired to take a more diplomatic position and frame things from more of a macro lens. This was also the first song to introduce the idea of two opposing sides which I explored more on over the rest of the album.

The title SIRENS was fitting as a double entendre, referencing the alluring and manipulative effect of a Siren’s song while associating the track as a warning sign for things getting worse.

3. Fractured State of Mind:

This track was certainly an attempt to get back to our metalcore roots showcasing some frantic riffs and hard-hitting breakdowns while blending the more modern sound palette of electronics that we’ve been leaning more into since our debut Love Language.

Lyrically, this song follows on thematically with observations of our chaotic society contextualized from the previous two tracks and flips the angle with a more empathetic approach in the chorus. We might be able to give up and watch the world burn but the only way to put the fire out is to put our differences aside to work together and that was the sentiment I was exploring with this track.

4. Break The Rules:

Obviously, a much more lighter and fun approach to making this song. Almost serves as a bit of a reprieve and palette cleanser at this early point in the album. Break The Rules (along with other tracks such as SIRENS and The Wall) began with the initial skeleton built by our guitarist Jesse Crofts, who brought the idea to the rest of us in the band, it was very infectious and playful and allowed the then-new band dynamic to let go a little and focus on having fun writing together.

The chorus melody and lyrics came together very early on and that set the direction for where I would take the narrative for the rest of the song.

For me, this song was a pivotal point in realizing some of the internal conflicts I was having with my own identity reentering the band. It had been a number of years from when I left to coming back that my personal growth had really become apparent when thinking about how fans would receive a change in vocalist. I wanted to use that to explore a theme that I would later flesh over the whole album. There are many ways to interpret what I’m saying on this track but for me, it reads as a situation between an introverted and extroverted person, both set in their ways and lifestyle which causes conflict in how both sides would like to experience their night ahead.

5. The Wall

Another very fun track to make but for completely different reasons and approaches. This track was already taking form instrumentally before I had rejoined the band so it was a great opportunity for me to write with somewhat of a blank canvas in mind.

I could really approach this song from just how the music made me feel. It’s unsettling and dark but so satisfyingly groovy as well. It created a vivid image of a bad trip where the room around you feels like it’s being sucked up by some vacuum and everything is tearing away including your own physical form. It was that feeling of paranoia and unease that carried me through the song while also scratching the itch to rap over some southern hip-hop-inspired grooves.

6. Villain:

This track came together pretty quickly and early on in the writing for HYPERVIOLENCE. There were a lot of emotions in the wake of the then-recent lineup changes and it got us reflecting a lot on the past and what we had all gone through over the years as a band Villain became a great expression for us to direct everything towards, in a way uniting us in the process.

Characteristically, Villain is very nostalgic not only in how the lyrics play out but also in the way that the music returns a little bit to the ground we covered in earlier releases. Pulling the electronics back to play more of a supportive role in the overall emotional performance on that track.

7 Get Out:

Get Out was a later addition to HYPERVIOLENCE during the writing process. At that point, we felt the need to write something that was more of a straight-and-narrow anthemic rock song, as the rest of the album was exploring more of the heavier and electronic spaces. This was a song I felt that lyrically came together like a letter to my former self, laying out what I wish I would have heard a long time ago in regards to sticking it out with things I should have walked away from a lot earlier.

8. Haunting Me:

I began writing it with a space and vibe in mind but it took me a couple of attempts to really hit the mark with the structure and flow of the song. Indey describes this one as the “Liam Guinane Masterclass” because it fits very comfortably in my wheelhouse of songwriting and production.

Being that it serves more as an interlude and the music has a real sense of intimacy, I wanted this moment on the album to thematically serve as a kind of reconciliation and acceptance between the two personalities that are in conflict throughout the album, acknowledging the power of working together rather than against each other.

I really got a lot of enjoyment out of making Haunting Me but I also wanted to connect it to other songs on the album musically (see more on that later in Venom!

9. Vertigo:

Vertigo was another track that came together very organically. We had started Vertigo with the chorus section and another guitar riff section and three of us (Myself, Chris, and Indey) were going back and forth with melody ideas to go over the music. Indey throws out the line “You give me Vertigo” and then out of nowhere comes up with this vocal run that immediately stuck with us. It framed the direction for the rest of the song. As a bit of an easter egg, Vertigo serves as a “part 2” for a song from our 2019 Empire EP titled ‘Reject’ following on musical and in some lyrical references.

I was fascinated watching fan culture online toward other artists and bands and with how intense it can get, I wrote Vertigo framing the idea around being put so high on a pedestal that you get dizzy with ego that you risk falling off and how the fear of disappointing someone can be consuming that you meet your demise anyway.

10. Hypnotised:

This was a track that I had brought the initial idea in and the guys really helped to build the rest of it out. It’s a tonal shift but also showcases how the way we collaborate can render very different outcomes in wonderful creative ways. I think it’ll be considered an underrated track on HYPERVIOLENCE but it’s one of my favourites personally. It’s somewhat understated but enticingly groovy. Lyrically the song has a strong sense of existential anxiety for losing something or someone that is so important to you. It reflects on the moments that get taken for granted in life and the realization and desire for those precious moments to last beyond our lifetime.

11 Venom:

We had a lot of fun making Venom, right from the very beginning of Chris bringing in the first sections of the instrumental to putting together the chorus refrain to building out the “gospel” section. When I was writing Haunting Me, I knew I wanted to tie it to the middle section of Venom as a sort of reprise in the album which ended up being more of an evolution and reharmonisation of the repeated vocal motif on Haunting Me.

Venom is very tongue-in-cheek and intended to be the anthem for the wild and braggadocio personality side. As it was said before, there’s meant to be a grandiose attitude to fit with the style of the instrumental which is what informed a lot of the lyrical content. It’s idealistic and unnecessary but playful and sarcastic.

12. Tabula Rasa:

‘Tabula Rasa’ is the final full band track on HYPERVIOLENCE and encapsulates the futuristic, digital elements of Windwaker’s music to its greatest extent.

It has a certain triumphant feeling and wouldn’t feel out of place in a video game.

It’s groovy EDM-inspired rock with a catchy soaring chorus that showcases a refreshed take on what Windwaker does.

Similarly to Venom, the song is framed in a tongue-in-cheek, sarcastic way and pokes fun at what truly matters in a career and life path.

13. Juliet

‘Juliet’ ends the album with a gentle send-off, almost acting like an epilogue to the album. It felt fitting to conclude such an intensely energetic album with a final breath of air to invite the listener to start again.

It’s a bright and vast space that cascades beyond the horizon, ambivalent in mood and tone.

This was also a chance for the electronic elements of Windwaker’s sound to have an exclusive spotlight for an entire track and Indey & Connor did a fantastic job with it.

It’s off-kilter in groove but calculated in sound design