After moving from California to Philadelphia, there was a lot to process for the folk-influenced storytelling artist teddy moisa. The resulting single is a nearly five-minute long collaborative effort between moisa and writer/producer Alex Spangler.
“forgive the empty rooms” is a largely acoustic track which is heavily lyric-driven. Moisa expounds and navigates the emotions coming from moving away from home, returning during the holidays, and awaking to the stark reality that people who you expect to be waiting for you won’t be there.
They dwell on the observation of empty rooms as the title suggests — the pieces missing from the whole, vacancies left by change and the passage of time. In the refrain, moisa writes “You followed so I fell / Oh the stories we will tell / Each in our own song / Each with our own wrongs.” On the lyrics they say,
“…I noticed myself paying attention to empty rooms, rather than when I was feeling whole. I wrote the lyrics during a period of change, and the words helped me process anger and sadness.”
“forgive the empty rooms” is a perfect example of teddy moisa exposing their vulnerability and processing emotions through simple, beautiful narrative songwriting. Coming to a swelling, string-backed finish before switching abruptly to a lo-fi voice memo, the track reveals a level of intimacy brought out by honest songwriting.
Stream “forgive the empty rooms” below.
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