Bridges and Powerlines are from New York City and there’s no way you will forget that by the end of listening to their new record Better. Each song is titled after a neighborhood in Brooklyn and we had the chance to pick the brain of guitarist David Boyd about the background of their song “Bushwick”. He told us how the song got started, how the lyrics were written, the overall feel of the track and much more. Check out the story, lyrics, and music video below.
Background
We wrote Bushwick all together as a band one night in our rehearsal space. I think we had just finished rehearsing for a show and decided to spend the last few minutes of practice working on new material. Our writing process hasn’t changed much over the years. Usually either Andrew (vocals, keyboards) or Keith (vocals, bass) brings in a loose song idea and then the band fleshes it out. That night Andrew had a new song, and he started playing his initial ideas on piano for us. I think we were probably pretty tired, as often we rehearse late at night, but I remember that we were suddenly excited because we thought the song sounded great. He had written the verses and the chorus, and it had a very anthemic quality. I think Keith then threw in the post-chorus (the big section that says “find a new way”) and within 20 minutes of starting, the song was written. That was refreshing since usually our songs take much longer for us to find the right arrangement.
Lyrics almost always come later for us. Either Andrew or Keith writes them, based on the melodies that they’ve been singing for the song. We were all going through a lot of changes during the creation of the record; there were some pretty big break-ups, and we were also trying to regroup after the monumental effort behind our previous record Eve, including 4 months of recording and our largest tour to date. “Bushwick” became a call to action, a challenge to break through the personal and artistic inertia that we were feeling at that time. The verses create scenes of relative despair that are broken by the optimism of the choruses. The song reflects what we were trying to do with the record. We had just finished a really ambitious, dense album, and we wanted to return to the uptempo, somewhat carefree music that we had made in the past.
Each song on the new record (Better) is titled for a Brooklyn neighborhood. Although the lyrics may not have obvious ties to their respective neighborhoods, the whole record reflects the different seasons of a relationship, each of which had a backdrop in a different part of Brooklyn. “Bushwick” alludes to some specific late-night episodes that occurred (roughly) in that area, and although it was initially a working title, it evolved into the theme that eventually expanded to the whole album.
The recording of “Bushwick” was tremendous fun. It was tracked at a studio in Rhinebeck, NY (The Clubhouse) that was on a beautiful stretch of farmland. We put down the basic tracks over the course of a spring weekend and had a great time hanging out. It was definitely the most relaxed recording session we’ve ever done, and I’d like to think that came through in the end product.
Lyrics
you broke into my body and stole my blood
you built a tiny boat and cried out flood
as if I had the strength to sleep all night
then I could reconcile the past and make things right
don’t cry, i might see forever if I try
I might be the only one
you tied me to my seat and closed the door
you took another drink and asked for more
as if my open arms had turned to strings
I crept inside the hole that laughter brings
don’t cry; we might see tomorrow if we try
we might be the only ones
we might be the ones who never die
leave this space behind and go outside
we’ll find a new way x 4
we might, we might see forever if we try
we might be the only ones
