Song Details
- Album Release Date: 2012
- Genre: folk
Song Meaning of “Under The Landslide (Slight Return)” by Mat McHugh
‘Under The Landslide (Slight Return)’ by Mat McHugh paints a picture of life gone off the rails. With its varied instrumentation, from obscure sound effects to gentle piano and dark vocals, it conveys the sense of a journey through an ever-accelerating chaos.
The narrator of the song describes his chaotic life filled with “meanings I had never learned” and “old thoughts with no direction.” His journey has become a precarious one, with danger and destruction lying in his path, “forces that I cannot fight within.” He calls out to a higher power to help him out of the darkness and into the light, away from the “landslide” that surrounds him.
The conclusion of the song serves as an anthem of hope. It resounds with a message of resilience as the narrator makes his way “back up to a level road,” determined to make it through the landslide. He is finally free “to keep our heads above” and able to look ahead towards a better future.
The song is a reminder to anyone overwhelmed by chaos that while the resolution of one’s issues may seem insurmountable, all is not lost. After the hard fought battle of surviving through the landslide, a clearer path can be found on the other side. Although it may not be easy, the struggle makes hope possible, a reminder that resilience and perseverance make any journey possible.