It's a song I still frequently return to because it captures something Slow Pulp does incredibly well: they can make sadness sound almost weightless without softening its edges. Massey knows how to lean lyrically into confrontation, charged with confidence and resolve, and the freedom in acknowledging when things simply aren't alright. This comes to light as Stoehr describes their records as “kind of like a sketchbook,” cohesive through more of “an attitude or an energy” even when they contain wildly different types of songs genre-wise. Massey offers the more concise descriptor: “Patchwork.”

Even the names of their records have accumulated unexpected connections. Stoehr wrote “Melodie” around halfway through the new album, and while recording with producer Elliot Kozel, whose credits include Rosalía, Björk, SZA and Eartheater, he and Massey began considering whether one of its song titles could name the record. The unusual spelling reminded them of , another familiar word that could take on different meanings if you didn't see how it was spelled. Even , seemingly the exception, ended up carrying an accidental second meaning: Stoehr, Mathews and Leeds had a childhood friend nicknamed Yard because, as Stoehr explains, “they say when you hit home runs you're going yard, and he was always hitting home runs.”

“We were thinking of Melody, kind of like how you'd maybe spell it if it was, like, a person's name,” Stoehr explains, adding that the double meaning felt consistent with what they had done before. There was also something amusingly straightforward about it. “There's something funny too about calling an album Melody. You know?” Massey laughs. “We make music.” By the time Slow Pulp began making , however, change meant something different. It was important for the band to go back and figure out how to keep growing without losing the freedom they had before anyone was listening.

“Better Man” was the first clue. Stoehr remembers it as the song he and Massey began writing together during this album cycle that felt like the kickoff for whatever would come next. It also saw Stoehr take on more of a songwriting role, credited for five of the album's songs. The pair returned to something closer to how they worked when they first met: sending songs back and forth quickly, sometimes before either could become particularly attached to an idea. “It kind of felt like the doorway into this new album.”