Introvert: Pessimists Attempting Optimism

The punk rock genre is arguably stronger than ever, and Australian four piece Introvert is a testament to this. They released their second EP, Mending Breaking, on the 21st of February 2020, which received some glowing reviews. The band signed with UNFD in 2017, who also have clients such as ARCHITECTS and BEARTOOTH, and with only having three tracks to their name at that point is very impressive.

Having one previous release in the form of EP, Old Taste, in 2016, the band’s drummer, Stephen Hopkins, spoke of how many have interpreted this EP as INTROVERT’s heaviest work so far, although it may not have been intentional, “Stylistically we’ve tried to brighten but we’ve only been told we’ve failed at that…” This is most likely due to the pure emotion that runs throughout this record, having been inspired by mental health and the members conveying their experiences through the meaningful lyrics. The band wanted the EP to be a resource in which fans can look to when they are having similar experiences, with Hopkins saying, “generally to me, it all seems to have a bitter flavour to it but it’ll be mixed with hope, fear, denial, anger, and defeat. All we could hope is that at any point you could feel understood and accepted by it.”

The process of writing songs can be a hard one if you are doing it with people who have different mindsets. The topic of mental health was one that every member of INTROVERT could relate to in some way, meaning they would be more able to see where each other was coming from. You can see this in the finished EP from just how well all the songs fit together, flowing perfectly from track to track and making for a truly enjoyable experience. However, speaking of the song writing process, Hopkins has said dealing with this particular topic could make for some difficulties. “We’re basically the four horseman of anxiety at any given point so in a room together you’d have every reaction a person could have to a situation. There are times of peace but lining ourselves up together has been hard at times. We can absolutely say with certainty that we are getting better at that though.”

Running consistently through the EP is the strong theme of mental health right down to the cover artwork. The striking image created by Hannah Dunn really encompasses the feeling that the band are trying to get across, yet its meaning is very much up for interpretation, which even the band members having different ideas as to what it depicts. “We had ideas but we gave her the songs, lyrics, and free reign to interpret them through the art. The finished product was intending to convey an inward struggle,” Hopkins says. “The entire EP personally is about realising how we hold ourselves back and the intention of the cover art was to make the two characters look like the same person. For me though I still struggle to decide if the pink character is constraining or comforting or if the blue character is fearful or possibly just numb.” This element of interpretation could even add deeper meaning to the EP as a whole, as everyone struggles with mental health in different ways and experiences different things. Having the opportunity to decide its meaning for yourself and make it more personal, can mean fans are able to relate to the EP on an even deeper level.

Stephen then went on to talk about the EP in greater detail, allowing you to get further into the band’s mindset as to what was intended for this release.

One big thing that stood out from this new EP was the transitions from song to song. These flowed extremely well leading to the idea that you wanted the EP to be listened to in its original order. Is this the case and if so why?

Stephen: Yeah absolutely. I never want to push an idea onto a song after I release it, because it’s not really mine anymore, but the EP was intended as a cycle. It’s a day, week, and year in our lives.

When writing this EP, which bands or artists were the biggest influences for you all and in what ways?

Stephen: Biggest for me was TROPHY EYES. Choruses are big like we like to write them. The inspiration we pulled from GANG OF YOUTHS was one more from a dynamic perspective. How their songs can build and insight like a mountain climb feeling is something we tried to implement in songs like Find A Way. Bands like BASEMENT and BALANCE AND COMPOSURE are always at the heart of what we do but through this release we also tried to bring in some PUP and HELLIONS to shake it up a little.

If any of you have experienced negative mental health yourselves, was this EP therapeutic to create in any way and how?

Stephen: I can’t speak for everyone but I know when Audie and I were working out the lyrics for Find a Way we looked at it as a conversation to a friend that just couldn’t accept the help they needed. Its only later we realised it’s a song we needed to write because it’s a song we needed to hear. Find a Way hits so hard for me because the title lyric sums up the writing period. We had such opposition but in the end there is a way to overcome them, it may just take time but absolutely will take reaching out.

Mending Breaking out now via UNFD.

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