On my first listen of , I noticed how delicately it grapples with platonic relationships. “I think that stuff has just as much potential to break your heart,” Teitelbaum says. “... Those are the biggest relationships in [our] lives, and I will always have stuff to say about them.” On the record's second track “Heart Has To Work So Hard,” she tells of a friendship that feels laborious, yet sacred. The pair sit in the sun, and Teitelbaum is oblivious to the emotional danger she’s in. “I turn to face the lake / And you turn to twist the knife,” she sings honestly over gritty electric guitar.
“I’m a big believer that you can come back from most things in relationships, friendships, family, etc,” she says. “And, I usually will start writing when I’m pissed, and the song will be a lot of anger, and ‘here’s what you did,’ and ‘here’s why I’m upset about it.’ And then, by the end, it usually turns into ‘here’s why I love you anyway, and here’s what I did too.” In the next lines, Teitelbaum reminds her struggling friend that she “see[s] through all the shame” and still wants to be close.
On “New Shape,” Teitelbaum follows the same pattern - of accusing, then forgiving. “You slip out beneath the thumb of my understanding / Every time I think I know you, you shift to a new shape,” she sings in the chorus, to another disloyal subject. Teitelbaum follows with reassurance, “I see you and I know that I’m indebted.” Her empathetic nature is apparent on - the ability to “see” people, even when they do us wrong.
The first three singles of are “Heart Has To Work So Hard,” “Violins,” and “Fur Elise” - which Teitelbaum refers to as “sister songs” because of their sonic similarities. They’re also her favourite songs on the record. “Violins,” the lead single, is all about pursuing healing. “I hope heads don’t roll / They rest lightly on your shoulder,” Teitelbaum repeats in the song’s refrain.
“I think that there should be more gentle interactions in the world, and that was my way of saying that in a world where you’re told to make shit happen constantly, and productivity is everything, and success at all costs - I hope that you don’t actually do that, and I hope that you don’t make heads roll,” she says. “I hope that you actually just have a soft touch.”
In the song’s music video, Teitelbaum is trying to save an ice sculpture of a fawn from melting in a Backrooms-esque office space. Blood and water droplets drip from the sculpture, and her Carrie Bradshaw curls blow in the breeze of three hair dryers, hopefully set to cool. “When I got there, I remember feeling like, ‘Oh my god, I need to save this fawn because it’s so cute and it’s daunting,’” she says. “It felt very easy to shoot it that day because I felt truly emotional about it.”