At its core, White Reaper’s new record revolves around the act of letting go—an action that’s so often bandied about in the parlance of our times, but is actually one of the greatest challenges human beings have grappled with for millennia. Only Slightly Empty also deals with some more tangible and contemporary concerns, like gun violence, but all in all, the fifth studio effort from the Louisville garage-punk outfit sticks to their tradition of headiness.
That interplay between existential pondering and practical concerns makes sense for a band that’s in its tenth year, and that’s achieved the level of success that they have. We usually talk about musicians in the context of whether they’re corporate-approved royalty or underground heroes, but that dialectic is undercut by the reality that many (if not most) bands exist in the gray area in the middle. On Only Slightly Empty—their first record since leaving Elektra for the punk- and hardcore-focused Blue Grape Music imprint—White Reaper grapple with their place in the grand scheme of the artistic community. The record also finds them searching for purpose, which only becomes apparent when one really scrutinizes the album and what the band is saying with it.
As Only Slightly Empty is an artistic achievement that demands appreciation far beneath its surface level, we were grateful that frontman Tony Esposito agreed to comment on each album track—and, even more so, in a refreshingly transparent manner.
1. “Coma”
I had been hearing this music in my head for a while before I recorded the demo, and then the instrumental demo had kind of sat dormant for a while before I worked out the lyrics. I think this is kind of the perfect “don’t overthink it” song for us, and the lyrical content is sort of a commentary on its own writing process, where I’m talking about how often I get stuck and then the wave of relief I feel once I’m finally able to move on.
2. “Blink”
This song came together pretty quickly. Similarly to “Coma,” I was trying to keep things super-simple. I had that sort of sea-shanty, pirate-type vocal melody in my head and then laid down the instrumentation as fast as possible so I could immediately get to work on the words. Lyrically, this song is sort of a gallery of regrets and anxiety, and how it feels to share those thoughts with other people versus how it feels to hold it all in.
3. “Honestly”
This song was a really fun one to make. It reminded me of a nursery rhyme, so I felt compelled to throw “Red Rover” into the lyrics. I thought that maybe it was a little too bare, especially with all the stopping and starting, so I had some fun throwing in different things like sampling my own demo vocal in the pre-chorus and finding a synth sound that was able to cut through the song just enough without it feeling too out of place.
4. “Freakshow”
This was the first song I wrote for this record. I had a dream that I was listening to it on my phone, and when I woke up, I had to triple-check that it wasn’t already a song.
5. “Eraser”
This song was so much fun to write and record. I had written the lyrics for the chorus, but that was really all I had. I brought it to Ryan and Hunter and we were able to flesh out the arrangement in what felt like 15 or 20 minutes. We finished the rest of the lyrics together and just kept adding little flourishes here and there until it felt like we were finished.
6. “Blue 42”
This is our first-ever song in drop D. I had this melody in my head for a while and sort of sat down to demo it out without any real expectations. The lyrics came so naturally, and everything else just fell into place. I think most people feel certain symptoms of impostor syndrome to varying degrees, and for whatever reason, and that’s definitely the uneasy feeling I was poking at with these lyrics.
7. “Pocket”
This one gave me a lot of trouble—I think because that guitar riff is so involved, it was tricky to find the right space for the vocal melody to live. With the lyrics for this one, I was thinking about how people use weapons and violence to threaten or gain leverage and power over other people, and how frightening it is that so many people are pushed to that point these days.
8. “Enemy John”
This song didn’t come around until pretty late in the game of recording this record. There were so many obstacles for us to jump over in the recording process, and this song is a reflection of that. The lyrics are me personifying my self-doubt as “Enemy John” and talking about how those feelings can come on so strong and so quickly, from seemingly out of nowhere.
9. “Rubber Cement”
This one was another song that happened pretty late in the game. It sort of felt like a mixture between “Blue 42” and “Honestly,” and I liked the idea of having the three of them together on the record. It’s about finding unexpected joy and comfort in places where you know you shouldn’t be.
10. “Touch”
I feel like I’d been trying to write this song for a long time. It’s not really like anything else we’ve done before, and I think because of that I turned it into this big intimidating thing for no good reason. It’s sort of an unorthodox arrangement, but to me it feels right. This song is sort of about the idea of, “What advice would you give your younger self?” and how I feel like it’s kind of “against the rules,” so to speak, to try and alter course after you already know what happens. Also, I don’t think my younger self would listen to me anyway.
