VISTA’s new EP, The Repair, gets a little deeper than your average EP. The record, out February 14, focuses on themes all over the spectrum with life, and they gave us a breakdown of the meanings.
1. The Repair: To open up this record, Hope had the idea of using a music box as the key production element to represent growth. This intro is still haunting, but not nearly as much as the intro to our last EP The Ruins, which was the first record of The Trilogy era. Our producer (Okan Kazdal) had the idea of throwing in important lines from The Ruins and blending them into the mix. There’s one line from each song on The Ruins intermingled into this track, which is the perfect connection between the two records; one leads right into the next. This era revolves around a continuous evolution.
2. Crutches: Coming to terms with the realization that you may need help is sometimes hard to stomach. We wanted to capture that admittance on this track. Parts of the verse melodies are actually from an old demo that never came to full fruition; we loved certain pieces of that demo so much that we wanted to try and retain what we could. Those emotive melodies directly related back to what we were trying to accomplish with “Crutches.” It’s similar to when you break your foot, get a cast, and need to use crutches until it heals—you may not necessarily want to use the help, but need it in order to stay on your feet. We initially struggled with this chorus quite a bit and went through a few versions, but all of the pieces eventually came together.
3. Dirty Laundry: This song directly relates to the issues VISTA had last year, which we openly talked about on both our last EP and on a YouTube documentary we released in November. It’s the first song we wrote and recorded for The Repair, so it felt like the strongest representation of where we are now in 2020. It has a powerhouse chorus that we connected to from the start, and the energy made it a clear single choice. It’s about finally being able to expel our demons and put them to rest for good, something that took us a long time to do.
4. No Nostalgia: This is most definitely the hardest, heaviest, and angriest song on this EP. To put it bluntly, this song is about how many of Hope’s close friends abandoned her when her father passed away from cancer. The production is both chaotic and eerie, which we felt matched the tone of the topic. It’s kind of interesting to hear the juxtaposition between the verses and chorus because the production in comparison is so opposite. It mirrors the back-and-forth of grief. “No Nostalgia” was without a doubt the most difficult to get right, but now it’s something that we listen to with confidence.
5. Dear John: Most people refer to the phrase “Dear John” as a goodbye or break-up letter of sorts. We wanted to twist that notion and give it our own connotation, so this song is a statement to Hope’s therapist, who’s name is John. Her personal journey of repair has been heavily influenced by him, and it felt important to recognize how one person can impact your healing process. Production wise, it’s a different feel than the other tracks; it’s a rather cinematic closer. We always try to keep the production unique and varied, so we can continue to experiment sonically.
