Closing out his upcoming album with “Breakfast Again”, Owen Meany’s Batting Stance’s Daniel Walker closes out another chapter in his life with a bit of advice in the department of emotional damage control. Reeling from the effects of a bad break-up, Walker found himself having to put the pieces back together… starting with breakfast.
We all have methods for coping with a bad situation. For some, it’s a drastic haircut. For others, it’s more a matter of changing your name and moving across the country. The advice of Admiral William H. McRaven, likely your mother as well, was far more simple: Make Your Bed.
The advice of Daniel Walker’s father was equally minimalist – a one-foot-in-front-of-the-other approach until things get back to normal. The advice forms the foundation of Walker’s newest single and a good place to start for anyone in such a predicament. After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
“That’s a reference to some advice my dad gave me during the immediate days following the breakup,” says Walker. “He said something along the lines of just focusing on basic day-to-day things, and specifically mentioned make sure to get up and make yourself breakfast. So breakfast again is the attempt to be me when it once was a we. Making eggs and toast for one, once again.”
Not every path towards progress looks like one, however. Some days are good. Some days are not so good. As Walker demonstrates with the help of director N. Cecile Holland on “Breakfast Again”, some days, even the good ones, can vanish like you’ve taken two steps backwards.
“It pretty well has me either staring at something mundane; drifting off in thought; and portraying much of the act of thinking/reflecting in reverse to represent that our thought cycles are often cyclical and non-linear. Even a ‘breakthrough’ moment can have us waking up in a bad way the next day,” explains Walker.
“When you’re as lost as I was, having something to implement tunnel vision on was a needed escape. Then slowly but surely you start doing more and more on your own and eventually make new memories by yourself.”
The silver lining is, supposedly, that no great art comes without suffering. Owen Meany’s Batting Stance new album, Feather Weights, will be available via LHM Records on Friday, October 2, 2020.