Animal Flag is the solo project of Matt Politoski, a singer/ songwriter/ producer extraordinaire from New York. Matt is a student at the Berklee College of Music, and just finished up a tour throughout the eastern United States. Matt’s ability to write the truth in an interesting and heartfelt manner is easily noted in his latest album, “Everything Will Be Okay”, and especially in the song “The Management of Grief”.
This song is about dealing with pain, or in other words, learning how to manage your grief. When asked about the song, Matt gave the perfect explanation: “I guess it” about balancing pain. Sometimes your own suffering can seem huge and sometimes it can seem really small… and both minimizing it and blowing it out of proportion can be dangerous.
The instrumentation is light and airy, like you’d imagine your brain to be while you’re having an internal conversation with yourself. That’s one thing I think I like most about this tune- not only is it a subject that everyone deals with, but the fact that it’s portrayed as an mental dialogue of sorts means that literally everybody can relate.
As I said before, Matt is extremely talented at pointing out truths within his lyrics. In “The Management of Grief”, he uses repetition to make his points stick even more.
“the devil lives in my head
the devil lives in my head
oh, but God lives in my heart
yeah, I keep him in my heart”
These lines stick out to me every time I listen to the song because they are SO true. I don’t know anybody who isn’t tempted to do the wrong thing at times, but fortunately we all have something we believe in that usually helps us make the right decisions.
Overall, “The Management of Grief” has the unique quality of being straightforward while keeping you engaged with every single line. Animal Flag is definitely a treat to listen to, and I suggest him to anyone who needs a little hope and understanding from an individual who seems to “get it”.
