The music industry is an endless loop of holding patterns, outright rejections, and spinning your wheels in the dirt. Working musicians and siblings, folk duo me&you document their stagnation with the deeply expressive “S.O.L,” premiering today on American Songwriter. Connor and Karlee Hormell untangle every twisted knot that’s been building up inside of them for five minutes of blissful catharsis.
Videos by American Songwriter
“I’m kind of broken / I’m kind of stuck, endlessly hoping / I’m shit out of luck,” bays Connor, a vocal rasp rising to the surface. The chorus, the first bit that came to them, sinks into “rock bottom,” he writes of the song over email. “It’s a really sad line. It comes from a world where you wake up and look at yourself in the mirror and think, ‘Where did I go wrong? What have I done with my life?’”
It wasn’t until listening back to a voice memo on his phone that the emotional weight really struck him. “It was just everything we were dealing with in that part of our lives, and we hadn’t been able to put it into words until then,” he says. “After we had the chorus, we dug into the verses and explored everything that comes along with depression or sadness.”
Later, Connor examines those moments of avoidance, tucking away personal problems and never confronting them. “Out of sight, out of mind / It’s been a while since you’ve been here,” he sings.
“That’s another [line] that really hit me because I tend to avoid hard things in life and push them aside until I have to deal with them,” he admits.
“S.O.L.” also explores the treacherous push and pull of an on-again, off-again relationship and “the brutal honesty of feeling like it will never work out, but still endlessly hoping for it,” offers Karlee, who trades off lead vocals.
Electric guitars buckle beneath the weight, and the gut-wrenching pain, in both romantic and creative endeavors, comes into clearer focus. “This song serves as a metaphor for the general, everyday mundane responsibilities and struggles that can get in the way of the things you enjoy,” says Karlee.
“There’s nothing like feeling broken and stuck while trying to chase your dream and make a living. While we’re in the beginning stages of our career, it’s a tough thing to give all your energy to something that you believe so heavily in and still not be able to support yourself full time. This song expresses that feeling of how sometimes, it’d almost be easier to give up, but those verses have you keep coming back for more.”
Despite its world-weary coating, “S.O.L.” extends a sliver of hope – an omni-present force always hiding just out of frame. “There is a certain longing in this song that we were really trying hard to convey,” says Connor. “The way it ends hanging on the four, it just feels like the grass is greener. Like even though you’re really sad, everything will be okay.”
“S.O.L.” is the first taste of new music since their debut EP, 2018’s Chasing Trails. Over the last several years, the band has shared stages with the likes of John Paul White and Dwight Yoakam, among others.
Listen to “S.O.L.” below.
Photo Credit: Alex Timmons
