Track of the Day: Versive - 'The Unknown'

Irish alt-punk outfit Versive are back with a bang with their latest track, 'The Unknown', taken from their forthcoming EP.

The band's riff-heavy style of music packs a punch with aggressive hard-hitting drums and raw vocals, but never fully loses sight of infectious pop melodies.

Released on April 7th, Versive’s latest single 'The Unknown' is an emotional anthem that deals with the loss of someone to suicide. While the instrumentals were crafted in Massachusetts, the song was further developed in Antrim's Manor Park Studios by guitarist Conor Walsh and lead vocalist Kelan O’Reilly.

"'The Unknown' is one of the more emotional songs we’ve written," Kelan tells Hot Press.

"It deals with themes of loss and feeling disconnected - the importance of reaching out, speaking up, and also just listening. Too often in life we can miss what people close to us are saying, we take friendships and relationships for granted instead of actively working to maintain them and support each other."

"Unfortunately, as we all know, this can often end poorly. We lose touch, drift apart or worse," Kelan explains.

"This song is basically told from the point of view of a someone who didn’t address those issues until it was too late. They’ve lost a person they loved as a result. Now all they can hear is their voice echoing in their head. Where that person is now is never explicitly stated in the lyrics, and I didn’t really feel it needed to be. The thing is, whether someone has died, emigrated, or just moved on to a new life the void felt by those left behind can feel exactly the same."

"'The Unknown' is about coming to terms with that kind of loss."

Kelan has also added more than a few movie references for listeners to discover, as a film fanatic himself.

Over the years, Versive have shared the stage with high level acts in their genre such as The Maine, The Bronx, ROAM, Listener. After touring with pop-punk heavyweights, Four Year Strong, the emerging group were invited to Massachusetts to record track with producers, Alan Day and Mike Harmon, at Wachusett Recording Studios. The result arrived in the form of Versive's fresh releases throughout 2020 and 2021, including singles 'November', 'Done', 'Lifetimes' and 'Funeral.'

Versive have since signed to major US-based label Paper + Plastick Records, which will no doubt garner the band attraction beyond their home country once their What's Left EP is shared.

'The Unknown' may have a dark premise, but there are many aspects to the track which leave room for light at the end of the tunnel.

"The song isn’t all doom and gloom. The music itself is one of the more uplifting melodies we’ve written. "I think the ultimate point of the lyrics is not to wallow in feelings of anger, grief, or endless “what if’s”, but to embrace the future," Kelan mentions.

"The hope that wherever that person you may have lost is now, they aren’t alone. And the fact that you don’t have to be either. Life is full of unknowns. Things fall apart, but we learn, rebuild, and grow. My hope would be that people can enjoy the song at face value but also maybe take some small part of that feeling from it."

Check out the visceral new track from Versive below: