Friday: Mathew Lee Cothran—"Trust"
Today, we share our thoughts on "Trust” by the North Carolina songwriter Mathew Lee Cothran.
Welcome to Endless Scroll, the brainchild of Eli Enis (he/him) and Eric Bennett (they/them). Since Feb. 2019, we’ve been a weekly podcast about music, the internet, and where those two things intersect. Now we’re, also a M-F newsletter about songs. Our format is simple: a link to a song and a short take from each of us about what we think of it. Each day of the week has a corresponding genre: Monday is indie, Tuesday is punk, Wednesday is hip-hop, Thursday is pop, and Friday is misc.
Today, we share our thoughts on "Trust” by the North Carolina songwriter Mathew Lee Cothran.
Mathew Lee Cothran—”Trust”
Eli Enis:
Mathew Lee Cothran is superb at translating agony into song. For years, he sang of suicidal ideation, addiction, trauma, guilt, and hopelessness under the names Coma Cinema and Elvis Depressedly. Since 2017, he’s also put out a couple albums under his own name that tackle the same sort of stuff, and a handful of those tracks are some of his best yet. Next week, he’ll release another record under his Christian moniker, and its lead single “trust” is MLC par excellence. The song features lavish strings decorated atop a simple shaker, and what could either be an actual timpani or just a resonant kickdrum. Either way, “trust” has a windswept majesty to it that’s quite different from the dank, dim, and muggy sonic aesthetics he’s known for.
There’s always been a spectral glisten in his music, a glimmer of conscience peeking out from his drab vignettes of peeling wallpaper and blood-stained sheets, but here the music has a newfound elegance to it—a sharp contrast to the moldy showers and eternal isolation he’s singing of. The man is a wizard at making you feel the weight of a lifetime of suffering with just a few vivid details ("Pleasure carries pain/ I'm on a smoke break forever, after all”), and then right-hooking with a gutting piece of aged wisdom: “I've been growing old, for nothing I suppose”.
Eric Bennett:
Matthew Lee Cothran has had a whirlwind last few years. After experiencing some of his lowest moments in the public eye and having his personal struggles aired to the world, he put some of the best music of his career early this year. In preparation for his next release under his own name, he released “trust”, a truly beautiful piece framed by a stately string section in the form of the New Shiloh Chamber Orchestra. As the song swells, the song’s accompanying video is just as explosive, as bonfires and a fireworks show light up the screen. The song hints further at the sins he repented on his recent Elvis Depressendly record, Depressedelica, with evocative lyrics like, “A blessing and a curse/ I don't know which is worse / lightning struck me twice.” If “trust” is to be used as a gauge, perhaps Cothran’s upcoming release may prove he’s only getting better.