When the hazy guitar melody kicks in right at the top of Mons Vi’s new single “Leave Me,” an immediately palpable mood of melancholic beauty is set.
Videos by American Songwriter
While every song ever written has its own vibe to one degree or another, “Leave Me” is one of those rare songs that feels like a whole little world unto itself. Between the emotive layers of guitar, the effortless catchiness of the hook and the starkly honest and powerful lyrics, Matthew Hershoff—the mastermind behind Mons Vi—has pulled off the extraordinary task of capturing the human condition itself with this song.
That is to say, whereas a lot of pop songs try to be as general as possible in order to come across as being “relatable,” Hershoff has sidestepped that entirely and instead focused on telling his story. Yet, written a week after he lost his mother to sucicde, the emotions conveyed on the song are so raw that they capture a sense of the beautiful simplicity of life as a whole. While the song is thought-provoking, it’s not over-intellectualized—“Leave Me” truly comes directly from the heart.
“I lost my mom and couldn’t process it except through art,” Hershoff told American Songwriter. “The first time I recorded this song was in 2012 in a little studio I had back home in Miami. It was a week after my mom died, and I was walking around like a zombie because my whole world had just been flipped upside down. This new version of it was recorded in Brooklyn with the help of some friends of mine who really got the backstory and where the song came from.”
With the opening lines “If truth be told, truth’s too hard to bear/ I’d rather live in lies with you sitting right there,” it makes sense that Hershoff approached this new arrangement with a team that understood the reverence the song demands. This is especially the case considering one of the most amazing aspects of the song: despite how profound and revealing the lyrics are, it’s not overly sad. Rather, it hits this blissful sweet spot, shedding light onto the darker side of life while retaining a sense of solace, musically.
“I like the ‘happy music and sad lyrics’ vibe,” Hersoff explained. “It’s deceiving until you lean in and listen to what’s being said. But you also have to believe what’s being said. If listeners ever experienced loss or heartbreak of any kind, I hope this song connects with them and gives them a close friend to lean on.”
Mons Vi’s new single “Leave Me” is out now and available everywhere. Watch the music video for it below:
