It All Made Sense by Matt Warren is an alt-country acoustic ballad that uses simple instrumentation to paint a picture of a specific tone.
There is an enigmatic, seething melancholy throughout the whole composition that sells this piece, to me.
The instrumentation aids this tone with a sparseness, a simple arpeggiated chord that establishes the melody, allowing space for the listener to consider the lyrics.
This sense of space feels ironic because I believe that this theme is key to understanding the meaning behind the song. The specifics of the track are under wraps and, according to Matt himself, the meaning may only really be understood in the context of his upcoming album, Waiting to Die. Despite this, having a crack at understanding the track as its own single, it feels to me as if the vocalist is an overthinker who got into a relationship to quiet their mind and distract them but it didn’t work. When they understood that instead of working towards a happy relationship, they were running from their thoughts, the relationship soured because they couldn’t get the solace they were looking for by hiding in the business of day-to-day life in love.
Later in the track, there is this slow instrumental break where we hear a lead guitar with a morphed twisted timbre. I think this is a nice touch, again playing with our concept of space by talking about how the singer overthinks and then giving us the space to do so. It also just has a beautiful timbre to it, really feeling mournful in its wailing execution. It nicely contrasts the speed of the notes in the other sections. While they’re fast and muted, this guitar part feels lamenting and slow, each aspect emphasising the other through their contrast.
Overall, It All Made Sense is a dark, brooding, and enigmatic alt-country track with strong instrumentation, a great melodic backbone, and complex lyrical ideas throughout.
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