onion
hard life has been an indie-pop household name since 2019. onion - after a multi-year waited return - is here to solidify this reputation.
While the band often combines raw, honest topics set to lighthearted bedroom pop melodies, onion felt like the most personal installment of this style to-date. Absolutely jam-packed with carefully, strung-together, sometimes witty sometimes downright depressing lyrics, onion feels like Murray Matravers’ personal diary (without being overly literal). With class, humor, and subtility, the band tackles problems with exes, substances, male friendships, growing up, and being percieved.
What stands out to me every time I listen to hard life is that Matravers isn’t trying to be cool. The band is more interested in being themselves. On record, we see them working through their weaknesses, handling disagreements with friends, and grappling with social pressure. Unlike the majority of their male peers, hard life doesn’t shy away from singing about the struggles of manhood. This is not only what makes them special, but successful. hard life isn’t uncool by any means. The boy band’s masculine, admirable image has always remained intact. Their sweet spot is in presenting as both swag yet relatable; successful superstars who know the power of being soft.
Its striking, in fact, to look at images of their concert crowds. You will find very few indie pop crowds as male-dominated as theirs. The demographics of their fans do truly prove how effective their content is in making men feel connected. They make groups of men feel safe to show up to their shows proudly holding onions and scream the emotional lyrics to authentically indie pop instrumentals.
Overall, onion is a coherent, no-skip album that I keep finding myself coming back to. The instrumentals and melodies are vaaastly varied, and the record from start-to-finish feels layered - both sonically and lyrically - like an onion ;) The variety of sounds, the ups and downs, the audio extracts, the raw writing, works together to make onion feel like a scrapbook. Full of pleasant surprises and catchy quirks, it is a feel-good record not because it is lighthearted but because it we see that its ok to not be ok. We find reassurance in watching Matravers deconstruct and question every facet of himself and still emerge smiling, celebrating, cheering and even poking fun at when life feels hard because, ultimately, it is a gift.
“If this is my end credits, I think I'm ok with it; I came, I saw, I conquered, I quit; If this is my end credits, I think I'm ok with it; If I made some people happy, that's the sacred bit.” - end credits.
