Naarm/Melbourne-based post-punk outfit The Maggie Pills have released their sophomore record Hearts Enduring Lingering Loss, via Cheersquad Records & Tapes. To commemorate the occassion, the band have sent in a track by track breakdown of the album.
New Day
I wrote the song in Buenos Aires, Argentina, after attending a festival called Nuevo Dia, where young, emerging bands were playing. The crowd was beaming with youth, energy and passion, and they were singing and dancing their hearts out while watching their favourite bands.
In a time where conservatism and far-right views and politics are weighing down on many, notably the empathic creatives yearning for freedom of thought and identity, it was an inspiring thing to see a safe space for self-expression. The walls of the venue were protective and felt like so much more than a concrete structure; it felt like we were in a bunker that shielded us all from oppression.
Sweat, passion, nostalgia, loudness, freedom of speech and inspired art were in the air, surrounding and embracing us. Friendship, community, connection and support amongst strangers, eye contact followed by complicit smiles. I witnessed a generation that is full of love and has hearts strong enough to power through a crushing society and bring on a new day. Two years have passed, and there are nearly 12,000 km separating me, but still the pride, peace and reassurance the experience gave me remains immense. I think that alongside this, the track parallels the diaspora in our band, with Mario and I being from halfway around the globe, but finding people with whom to create who share our values and passions… I think this makes the track a great opener, as it parallels that unification of people that can unite and empower.
Driven by razor-sharp guitars, the song speaks to a generation of futureless youth, from any place and any time, who are living the present as if there were no tomorrow. Massive drum beats pay tribute to them with a clear influence of tribal music, which is a part of our blood, our stripe. A fighting stripe, full of beastly love.
Wonders Of The Human Condition
‘You should be lying down’. The world we exist in forces us to inevitably shut off the screens, to stop the inpouring of devastation and conflict, so that we can get on with our days.
We become so detached, we ignore so much, and this results in us also ignoring ourselves and the need to express, to communicate, to be honest. Because things are already so bad, it feels inadequate to assume that there is also room for oneself. We stop expressing, or even feeling, what we feel, what we want, what we dream. It’s all buried under all that noise and tragedy. Fear and hate have taken the place of all emotion, hopes and dreams. It has hidden the reasons for why we act, it has erased the shape of the things we love, it has killed all sense, all trust, all hope … “We have no more reasons to adore.”
The song immerses itself in the wondrous condition of human ego in an empty world which is only full of indifference, hate and disenchantment. It is driven by a feeling of vertigo and reigning disappointment. The dynamic is of beautiful verses being pierced by background noise, flooded by an uneasy and almost perverse dissonance that serves as a reminder of our complacency, a reflection of our humanity.
Swords & Knives
This is a song about the wild and unplanned nature of love. It comes into our lives like an electric storm that catches us in an open field and leaves us unable to move.
We’re all unique, mysterious creatures. Hidden fears and obstacles reside in our heads, and our spirits are a total mystery. Allowing ourselves to open up, to be seen and shared with another person is a tricky game, and on top of that, we add the fear of rejection, of getting hurt, of repeating destructive patterns from our life or our lineage.
Love comes with battles that happen inside of us and hurt like hell. It can undo everything we thought was real, driving us to madness and desperation. But sometimes there is no blocking it, there is no defence, it unarms us completely. If only we could choose who we love. But once we’re there, if we open our hearts to it, then maybe the truth will be revealed.
The dynamics of the song cut across the hearts of those who listen with intensity, of those who are willing to immerse themselves in the madness of Love. The song is a spell, which conjures the mad face of love and passion, the surrender to feeling it all. Think of the star-crossed lovers across time, or the vampire who falls in love with the sun and will happily embrace annihilation just for a chance to see their beloved, and feel their touch on their skin for the first time, knowing it will be the last.
Metz
Addicted to gloom. Metz is a song about not being able to be content, stuck in an eternal search for that thing that will make us whole, happy, or whatever makes us feel like we didn’t come to this world for nothing. It’s hard to know what that looks like; what we’re meant to be doing vs what we want to do vs what we can be good at vs what we’re expected to do vs how we want to be seen vs how we want to feel…
The song draws inspiration from the myth of Sisyphus, pushing the rock up the hill over and over without ever reaching the top. It revolves around the concept of expectations never being met – the insatiable contrariness. Metz is a short but voluminous track, exploring human greed and the search for liberation from it, a howl at the absurdism of life. Nothing is enough, and nothing makes sense when we’re in an endless pursuit of meaning in a meaningless world. Camus, eat your heart out.
Goths Of Disgrace
Goths Of Disgrace is about contradictions; the human tendency towards self-sabotage that translates to everything one holds dear; the intricacies of romance and relationships for people who have an ever-present and consuming darkness. Sometimes, we want something in our life, like a project or a relationship, but we end up doing the opposite of what we intend, which takes us in a direction that’s not what we’re looking for. The mystery of this self-destructive pattern of behaviour is something hard to crack, and it might not leave a person until the end of their days. No understanding, no escape.
One possible answer is the belief that we don’t deserve good, we don’t deserve love, and we are not worthy of achieving our goals. When things get hard, we want to give up; we forget that we are strong and capable of acting in harmony with our heart’s desires. We hurt ourselves because of pride, ego, and stubbornness. We see struggle or bad intention in the place where we’re meant to sow togetherness, trust, love, care, tenderness. We put bitterness where we want sweetness.
The art of love and the art of war get mixed up in the most confusing ways.
The ability to see the light gets lost in the mud that we create in the dark, heavy cloud that sits above our heads and all around us. Instead of seeing the beauty and hope in a blooming rose, we focus on the harm that a thorn can cause. We leave the flower, we take the thorn, we drink the blood, we drain it all.
The Hole
The Hole is an expression of hopelessness in front of today’s reality. We’ve been watching a live-streamed genocide for years now. Some of us have watched many wars and conflicts from a distance throughout our lives. This song is about how we turn a blind eye, and act as if nothing is happening.
A song imbued with sarcasm that speaks about selfishness, lies, and war. The massacre of people, the displacement from their lands, the flags that are raised by the power of lies, and the reigning hatred.
The idea of a hole in the brain, a ‘brain hole’ created by politics, society and beliefs. A hole carved by a sword that reflects the innocent being killed by those in power. Sometimes, when observing our atrocities, our hatred, the belief in the necessary destruction of the human species does not feel so far removed. Everything feels like a bad joke. An orchestrated nightmare and the numb indifference on the other side. Is it really the other side?
Dry Mouth
Dry Mouth sets the scene in the dark of the streets at night. The narrator is constantly looking over their shoulder and is prepared to run. The song reflects on struggles at both an internal and external level. It’s meant for anyone who has ever felt unsafe, whether inside or outside their head, or out at night. Our mind can play tricks on us as much as another person can.
We can blame ourselves for the way we feel, the way we treat others, and the way others treat us. We can lie to ourselves, mistreat ourselves, and neglect ourselves just as much. But we’re not our crashing thoughts, we’re much more than that. Just like we would defend ourselves or run from danger in the dark night, we can also do that when the threat is within us, making us feel tortured and insecure.
The tempo and the chords change throughout the song, embodying the idea that the external, oppressive weight of imminent danger is weighed down by our internal temperament, emotions, and agitation, arising from somewhere deep and dark within. The reasons for our actions lie in the past. When we feel doom is about to take it all, we cannot avoid being who we are, our own flawed selves. It will always come up when we feel threatened or scared, and then leave us thinking: how could anyone love something as warped as this?
Hearts Enduring Lingering Loss
The best way to describe H.E.L.L is that being raised Catholic turned me into a witch.
This delves into the scars left by one’s upbringing, and the common duality between the love we feel for that world we first existed in and the later decision to end up as far away as we possibly can from its standards and expectations. Internal struggles, searching for meaning, creation and destruction, and the acknowledgement that our wounds also make us who we are.
The world is broken, but our hearts shine bright, and we learn to make friends with our shadows. We discover pain to be the flame that sparks up creation, something new, as many times as we need it. We may be far away, but we’re not lost, and we’re still a part of that world just as it will always be a part of us. It’s grief for something not wholly lost, yearning for something which we chose to leave behind. Something always calls us back to its warm embrace. Love saves us and memory hurts, but there would be nothing left without it. ‘I thank you, oh, I thank you for everything I have. I try hard, oh, I try hard, to repair what you left behind. I am gone.’
Velobell
A blistering fusion of grunge distortion and punk urgency, Velobell is raw, addictive, and emotionally charged. Its sound is a sonic rollercoaster—where eerie tenderness collides with explosive energy, and sweetness is laced with a haunting edge.
Lyrically, Velobell dives deep into the fog of existential dread and the ache of disconnection, but it doesn’t leave you there. At its heart, the song is a message of resilience—a moth flailing in the darkness, still drawn to the light. It’s about the moments when we lose sight of ourselves, when life feels heavy, hollow, or out of sync—and yet something within us refuses to let go.
Whether you’re wrestling with grief, burnout, addiction, or just the quiet emptiness of everyday life, Velobell is a howl from the void that says: you’re still in there, and you’re not alone. Gritty and defiant, it reminds us of our primal will to keep searching, keep fighting, and claw our way back to the light.
Velobell is a blend of grunge grit and punk precision; it is as catchy as it is cathartic—raw vocals veer from sweet to spine-chilling, channelling the chaos of losing yourself and the fight to find your way back.
It’s a song about existential drift and emotional survival, lit with a spark of hope: we’re not lost—we’re just flying through the dark, searching for the light.
Adenine
Adenine forms our DNA, combining with other molecules in infinite permutations to make us who we are, make us all different, make us all human. This song mirrors another foundational aspect of what makes us brutally, totally human: never getting enough.
We know exactly where to find peace, but we don’t go there. We ignore the fact that we’re loved and accepted because we want to feel lonely and unloved. We believe everyone deserves a calm and peaceful life, but we don’t claim it for ourselves. Not satisfied with what we have, the grass is always greener wherever we’re not.
At the verge of incoherence, this is a temperamental song with constant mood changes. Joy, relief, desperation, comfort, inconformity, paranoia and the ever-present self-sabotage are some of the topics built into Adenine. We can feel at times that we’re enjoying our mundane life, just waiting for the next disaster to take it all away. This becomes a natural state. Calm may come, but not for you.
The Heartbreak
We didn’t really go for a cryptic name song on this one. The Heartbreak is what it is about.
The distance after a break-up, after we separate ourselves from someone who held a special place in our hearts. This is a song about the pain of moving on and, at the same time, about giving the memories a place in our hearts. We break apart, but the things we share and learn stay with you forever. We may burn it all and get as far away as we can, but they will never really leave us.
Life keeps happening while we take time to collect our pieces back, repair the chasm that was left in our minds and hearts, and reckon with the fact that what was is now no longer. Just like we can’t choose who we love, we can’t choose how we come out of it. It is a process that needs to happen; it is a storm we must sail through. We burn it all in that journey that we did not choose, looking to feel something again, looking for ourselves. We break it down, we take home what’s ours. Our tears, our emotions, our lives, they erode it, and slowly we can let it go like sand sweeping across the desert.
Different Ways to Resist Peace
‘Inertia will kill me. Inaction: forgive me.’
This track can be described as the diary of a traumatised, hyperactive child trying to navigate adult life. It is a contemplation of a circular path that invariably ends up in self-sabotage.
Nostalgic guitars and a sharp, repeating riff echo the harshness that is felt inside by someone who has never given themselves credit for anything. Living rapidly and productively, seeking action and change, unable to keep still, experiencing a feeling of inadequacy when things go well, not knowing why, but having a need to break it all and restart the cycle.
A self-fulfilling prophecy, the song is inspired by the symbol of the Ouroboros. Different ways to resist peace talks of an eternal cycle of self-reflection, the search for wisdom and the limits of our potential, never reaching an end and always having a new layer of skin to shed before starting the cycle all over again.
