Jordan Lee (a.k.a. Mutual Benefit) recently announced a remastered reissue of his 2011 EP, Cowboy’s Prayer, previously only available as a download.
“Auburn Epitaphs” is a short but scintillating lullaby. Light distortion, melodic guitar fingerpicking, and the smoky voice of Lee are enough to put any listener into a deep calm. The varied collection of noises is undeniably beautiful, but the lyrics are really what make the song memorable. It’s clear that “Auburn” is about searching for meaning through words, which seems a bit meta considering that the point of lyrics is to convey meaning, and the lyrics themselves are about conveying meaning. Anyhow, the lyrics suggest that our poetic narrator is searching for a way to solidify loss.
If it weren’t for the brisk notes and upbeat guitar plucks, “Auburn” would easily dwindle into depressing and slightly nihilistic territory. However, it reaches out with the music in a way that skillfully hides the helplessness: “I press my pen into the page / Pretending that these words can change / Feigning that they have some meaning.” These lyrics themselves convey a relatively universal feeling: that our words won’t “permeate a part of [us].” “Auburn” is melodically sweet and simple, but also creates a profound meaning that isn’t overly difficult to grasp.